Rachel Preston + The Ministry of Architecture

~ Architecture ~ Design ~ Art + Photography ~ TV + Film ~ Muse ~

Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts

Facing the Fear... of Kayaking

On 3:14 PM by Rachel Preston in
"WATCH OUT! Wind's up! There's an inflatable boat flying behind you!" 
This past Saturday I had a chance to face one of my greatest fears and turn it around...
I went kayaking.

Which sounds kindof ridiculous , when I type it here.
But, to the little part of me that was terrified of being on a kayak again, it was YUUUGGGE.

You see, about 12 years ago, right about this time of year, I was kayaking with some friends who were WAY better than me on a whitewater day trip in Colorado. It had been an easy enough day... I was always behind, but I was keeping up okay. I had a long slow river/lake kayak rather than a sport type, so I was always slower than the badass guys I hung out with. But it was a REAL kayak and I felt cool taking it all over the state to play.

Right after a lunch stop, we came up to the confluence of the river we were riding and another. One river was warm and one was cold, and it was always fun to ride the confluence to feel the water warm on one side of the boat and cold on the other. One of the sporty kayakers decided to make it more fun and do some tricks. When I tried to move around him... the thing I dreaded most happened... I went over. And because the water was only about 1.5 feet deep there, I stayed over, because I could not eject from my 'yak. I floated upside down, wondering if I had enough air to breathe, trying and failing to not drag my helmented head along the bottom of the river which ebbed and flowed with rocks below me.  I started to run out of air. I DID run out of air. But I still couldn't do anything. I started to feel lightheaded from the struggling. Then, just as suddenly as I went over, the bottom of the river fell away from me, and I pulled one last time, and ejected from my kayak. As I came up for air, everyone was screaming and freaking out. They thought for sure I'd drowned. Evidently I had been over for nearly 40 seconds. I was delirious. I vaguely remember my lover pulling up and letting me hold on to his boat as he got me towards the edge of the river. I pulled myself onto the bank and laid down on the ground. It took me a solid 20 minutes to "come back." Someone went after my kayak, which I had no capacity to catch as I was trying to save myself. We were only about an hour from the pull out, and I had to get it together to get to where we could get off the river at all. That hour was the longest kayak of my life. I wanted nothing more of kayaking, having been thoroughly beat down by the experience, and I immediately went home and sold my kayak to someone else. I said I'd never get on the river again. And I haven't.

As fate would have it, though, life dealt me a series of blows that included making me partially blind and also breaking my hip in a way that cannot be corrected. My friends have been trying to get me to go to New Mexico's Adaptive Sports Program for a couple of years, in hopes that it would quell my broken spirit and get me active again, knowing that I had been happiest when I was "Sporty Spice Rachel." And this past Saturday, I decided to FINALLY face my fear and join ASP in their kayaking and paddleboarding class at Cochiti Lake.

The morning was perfect. The lake, being no-wake, is very still and beautiful. And, bonus, the program is outstanding. Within minutes of arriving, I was getting on a sit-on-top kayak and trying my hand at it again. And my hands remembered how to do their thing! I must have played on the 5 kayaks I tried for three hours straight! It was AMAZING! I forgot how much I loved being on the water! I forgot that the REAL reason I'd gotten my old kayak was so I could do lake kayaking with my friend Sue, who is old enough to be my grandmother. I'd forgotten that I'd always wanted a sit-on-top and a) couldn't find one at first and b) was afraid my 'cool" friends wouldn't let me play with them if I had one. I remembered everything then. I remembered how it feels to feel truly alive and like my broken isn't my defining feature. It was awesome. My husband seemed kindof shocked that I was as into it as I was. It was just so freeing!!! I felt like I'd finally "come home." I'm still in awe of how great it was. And how great I feel. And that my hubs has started looking for more places to go do that so we can play more on the water together.

Something very important has shifted in me! And I am grateful.

morning stranger coyote (medicine in slow time)

On 5:12 PM by Rachel Preston in

there was a icy chill to the morning
hoarfrost on the mirror of my RAV
my first excursion out in days
everything was still because of the holiday and the dusting of snow
i drove purposely slow
i didn't know why
til she ambled out from behind a tree and across the road in front of me
resplendent from an easy winter
she kept walking and never dropped her gaze
we passed each other as if we were in a slow motion movie
her eyes looking straight into mine
I opened the window and called
hey sugar baby, you sure are a pretty little thing
I hope you're havin a good winter
I love you
and I smiled
and I swear to god she quite nearly walked right up to me


not this time, the first time.

My recent trip to DC for #SXSL: Summary

On 10:30 AM by Rachel Preston in
About 14 days ago now, I found out that I was invited to Washington DC, by THE WHITE HOUSE! to attend the inaugural South by South Lawn festival. It was the most amazing event. And even more amazing that out of 20,000 nominations, I somehow made the cut!

What was even more amazing was that my parents and friends rallied to get me there. My folks gave me airline miles to fly and my friends raised some money with a gofundme campaign that allowed me to travel with zero worries.

I had three days in town: Sunday for fun, Monday for the festival, and Tuesday as a backup for the festival in case of rain, which we didn't need, so I got to see one of my besties. The "fun" day Sunday ended up being 10 hours touring and 14 miles walking. I saw almost everything, monument and memorial wise. That night, I went on a nighttime small group tour with Bipartisan Tour Company that was out of this world good! Here are a few highlights of my photography from my explorations in DC that day:

I stopped outside the capitol and across the reflecting pond for a few moments and watched Japanese and Chinese and Korean tourists get photos of themselves there. It took me about 15 minutes to catch my breath. All I could seem to do was cry. I was so grateful for everything that had come together to allow me to be here.

I texted my mom this photo of the awesome Carrion plant from the US Botanic Garden. I just couldn't help but wish that the person who taught me to love flowers and plants and trees would be there. Right at that exact second, she called me!

I met this awesome little Albanian girl outside of the Museum of the American Indian, which I worked on the design of once upon a time when Smithgroup hired my firm to help do structural and mechanical coordination on. She wants to be an architect when she finishes school. It was awesome to meet her!

 Iwo Jima always makes me think of my dad. When I was born, he was a Marine Corps DI. Which is why military school was so easy for me! LOL!





 I could have spent an entire day in the Air and Space museum!







More photos:US Capitol Building 

United States Botanic Garden

@Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

@Smithsonian #airandspace

@Smithsonian Hisrchorn Museum & Scupture Garden

@Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Highlights

#Artgasm at the @Smithsonian Freer & Sackler Galleries + the incomparable @DarrenWaterston

@Smithsonian Old Castle

Washington Monument @NatlParkService

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial @NatlParkService

National Air Force Memorial

US Marine Corps War Memorial "Iwo Jima" @NatlParkService

Lincoln Memorial @NatlParkService

Thomas Jefferson Memorial @NatlParkService 

National World War II Memorial @NatlParkService

#MLK Memorial @NatlParkService

On Monday, I went to the African American Museum on the way to the White House for the #SXSL event. 

 @Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
+ #SXSL Interview with David Adjaye and James Turrell

The White House 

Highlights from South by South Lawn #SXSL @WhiteHouse @JasonMoriber @AnandaLeeke @gunshybadguy @owhylie



And Here's the map I used to get around, in case anyone needs one! LOL!




 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Highlights from South by South Lawn #SXSL @WhiteHouse @JasonMoriber @AnandaLeeke @gunshybadguy @owhylie

On 10:29 AM by Rachel Preston in
There just are not words to fully describe the impact of #SXSL on me. So I'm just going to collect things here that inspire me about it, from my own pics to others' videos and projects.



www.facesoffounders.org

Blogpost: The Best Thing about #SXSL by Verizon's Chief Storyteller Jason Moriber 
 
































Real American Heroes!!!



Ananda Leeke









Obama + DiCaprio + Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, photo by Julia Youngs

Bo!

Luke and Chris from Nexus! Photo by random stranger. : )






Jason Moriber, Luke Ritchie and Chris O'Reilly of Nexus Productions UK

Amy the amazing lady astronaut!









Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)