Stuck in the Mud

Sometimes people wonder why I am quick to start evaluating most any situation before deciding how to proceed. I see it sometime frustrates others when I want to be certain that a particular option is the correct one. There are times when trial and error works well for me, but many times, I would prefer to think things through first. I've been called many things for this, some positive, some not. I do like to anticipate and be prepared for things. When needed I can react, but I would prefer to plan and avoid a mess, if possible.

A particular event from my childhood help shape this trait in me.

Years ago, when I was 10 years old, my family went fishing. While fishing was common for us, this trip was different because of a drought. Our regular fishing spots were dry. We travelled north toward the Missouri river to see if we could find someplace to fish. 

We found a spot on a river that feeds into the Missouri river where some beavers had built a dam. There was a nice pool with some fish. We spent some time fishing and caught several. Being 10, I got bored after a bit with fishing and started exploring. The beaver dam intrigued me. It looked like just a pile of sticks but somehow, it held back water. It is probably good that I had not learned yet that the beaver's home was inside the dam. I might have tried to find them. Instead, I was content with just trying to figure out how they built the dam. Turns out it is not just a pile of sticks -- the beavers add mud, grass, leaves, whatever they can find to make it watertight. 

In normal years, this river flows all the time. But with the drought, the river bed below the beaver dam was dry. While I had been investigating the dam, my dad and brother started walking down the river bed just to see what they could find. At some point I saw them way downstream and again being 10, I just knew I was missing out on something exciting. I asked mom if I could go, and then I took off running to catch them.

As I mentioned, the river bed was dry. It was all cracked with some areas darker than others. Some areas were soft enough that my dad and brother left footprints. As I took off running, I kept watching for their foot prints so I could follow their path. My dad and brother were getting close to a bend in the river. I ran faster to try to not lose sight of them. I kept watching for foot prints and running along. Then all of the sudden I learned several new things. The spots where I could see foot prints were the darker colored areas. I learned that what made these spots darker and softer is they were still wet. There was water under the surface. 

Another thing I learned was about weight displacement while running. As a 10-year-old, I had never given any thought to this before. It turns out that a 10-year-old boy running can put more weight on the ground than a grown man walking. As I was running down the river bed following my dad's footprints, I suddenly stopped. I had broken the surface crust layer and my foot was in the mud. Since then, I've learned more about science and physics. I understand now why I broke through the surface when my dad did not. 

As I tried to pull my stuck foot out my other foot broke the crust and now both feet were stuck in the mud. I was terrified and panicking. The more I moved, the farther I sunk. It seemed as if time slowed down. This felt like an eternity but I'm sure it had only been seconds to go from running to sinking in the mud to above my knees. Since everything I had done to try to free myself had resulted in sinking, I was afraid to yell. I thought I would sink more. I started calling for help but it came out in more of a whisper, "help! help!". I watched as my dad and brother continued on around the river bend and out of sight. They had never seen me trying to catch up to them, so they didn't know to look back. I was afraid to turn to see my mom because I thought I would sink more. But I kept wisper-yelling, "help!, help!" and I kept sinking, almost to my waist.

Some things I learned over the years that I did not know at the time. The condition of the river bed was quicksand. The clay under the surface was still saturated. Unlike you see in movies, sinking in quicksand is not the danger. Becoming stuck is the problem. If I would have relaxed and tried to lay down then I probably could have gotten my legs out of the mud and then rolled off the area to get to a safer spot. More important - I could have yelled. Yelling was not going to make me sink more. Also, people will generally only sink to their waste in quicksand. The quicksand is denser than a person so you are floating. But 10-year-old me did not know those things.

Back to the story, my mom had been checking on me every few moments while working on whatever she was doing. She saw me go into the mud and was headed my direction. The first I knew of this was when I heard her yelling for my dad. Unlike my voice that was only coming out in a whisper, I think my mom's voice could have been heard for miles. I saw my dad and brother come back in to sight and as soon as my dad saw me, he started moving faster.

Both of my parents obviously knew more about physics than I did at the time. Both of them knew they should not immediately run into the dark colored area around me to pull me out. If they did, they would be stuck in the mud with me. My mom tried to comfort me while my dad worked on a plan of how he could get me out of the mud. He knew he needed something that would spread his weight and mine over a larger area so that he could get me out. He ended up dragging a large fallen tree over, getting it situated, then sitting on the tree while he pulled me out.

I learned many things on that fishing trip. There were the immediate lessons of getting to inspect a beaver dam, seeing the impact of a drought and that sinking in mud is terrifying for a 10-year-old. Then there are the lessons learned over time. For me, the one that stuck (pun intended) is -- the same path that has worked before may not work the next time. I had followed the same path as my dad down the river bank. It had worked for him and my brother. It did not work for me because something changed. I was running when my dad and brother were walking. That one small difference made a huge impact.

Looking back, I can see that the events of this day shaped how I approach things. Evaluate the conditions. Figure out what is different than before. Is that going to cause a problem? What adjustments are needed? I guess the old adage - look before you leap - sums it up.