Rainbow River Trip: Doing Life Sober

Recovery means giving up the people, places, and things that can trigger us to use again. Let's be honest, for most of us, that also wipes out everything we used to do to have fun. That's why fun and fellowship are an important part of life at Purpose House.

On Saturday, August 10, 2019, about 40 of our closest friends, clients and alumni went on our annual Rainbow River trip. At 7:00 am, we met to make sandwiches and load coolers filled with soda and water. We hopped on a charter bus, and our faithful driver Rory headed north to Florida's beautiful Rainbow River. It was a long trip. Well, actually, it was only three hours but it felt like forever! So we passed the time by taking selfies.

When we finally arrived, we ate our delicious sandwiches and began our trek towards the river. Rainbow River is one of Florida's many spring fed rivers. The water is crystal clear and a chilly 73 degrees.

The River Changed Us

Some of us learned little lessons like how to stay afloat in our raft or that sometimes two zip-lock bags aren't enough to keep a cell-phone dry. Others learned the importance of staying together in deep water, but we all learned to simply pause and enjoy life.

One of our residents said it best,

I can't believe I was in jail on Tuesday. This is so surreal.

We had great intentions of capturing our day with Go Pros and iPhones, but instead the River had other plans. We spent too much time relaxing and enjoying the moment to document our journey. But we have lots of pictures of that bus ride.