Last weekend I had the opportunity to get down and dirty at a down home pick-a-thon, the 8th Annual Northwest String Summit. This bluegrass festival, hosted by Yonder Mountain String Band, is held at a place called Hornings Hideout just outside of Portland, Oregon.Dirt stomping, camping, hammock swinging, hootin and a hollerin, string plucking, harmony singing, late night walks, early morning wake-ups, dressing up in goofy clothes, celebrating life, and, of course, picking dirt boogers naturally ensued.
...Aside from all that fun, I almost died. Story- Okay so maybe not "died" but seriously injured. I was walking along one of the dirty paths in a campground over yonder with my friend Nate. Suddenly a breeze, which we normally welcome on such a warm day, rushes through the campground and we hear a "CRAAAACK." I look up to find a substantially big tree falling down on us from a considerable height. I saw that it was leading us slightly and decided to backpedal to escape its wrath, while Nate did not get a glimpse of the tree and just decided to run forward as fast as possible. I witnessed the branches of the tree brush the back of Nate's flailing legs before crashing into the ground. Ugh, that was close. Naturally after such an intense incident, we gave each other hugs and decided to take pictures with the falling death machine.
What if we would have left 2 minutes later for the walk? 5 minutes earlier? 3 seconds earlier? Sometimes I understand how everything could happen for a reason, and sometimes i am not so sure, but one thing is for certain- that experience immediately made me appreciate my life, my health, my surroundings, and the family and friends that I love.
It was a good change, and continued to be a great weekend afterwards.
It was a great way to start off the festival season, and in some respects the Summer. I just looked at the weather forecast and cannot wait for the next 10 days of 80+ degree heat, camping?, working, playing, and basking.
Enjoy today because tomorrow will be different.
