You Never Know Until You Ask

This past Labor Day weekend presented some of the most memorable experiences of my life. My 9 year old daughter and I backpacked deep into the mountains far from cellular reception.

In order to get to the campground we had to cross a river.  

It was raining when we arrived and I quickly set up our small tent so we could rest and dry off.

About 40 minutes later we decided to scope things out and see if it made sense to stay.  

We walked further up the dirt mountain road and my daughter started jumping in every puddle. The rain subsided to a mist and it was beautifully surreal.

I asked in prayer if we should stay and I immediately heard the words go through my head, “yes, you will be safe”.

I told my daughter and she said she was going to do the same.  She walked quietly and after some time she said I hear the same answer.  We agreed to stay.  It was a moment I will never forget.

Shortly we came to another campground.  It had a wooden shelter with a raised platform and a picnic table.  There was plenty of room in the shelter to keep our tent dry and off the ground.  How perfect!

We headed back to get our things.  We asked the family camping next to us if they could help bring our stuff to the next campground in their truck.  That way we didn't have to pack up our wet tent. They agreed.

We found out they were suppose to camp all weekend but were leaving because of the rain.

The husband and wife told us about a non-profit they're starting geared at cleaning plastic from the oceans.  They're website is worth checking out @www.orbww.com.

Once their group left as far as I knew my daughter and I were the only ones on that side of the river.

We explored the new campground and enjoyed our time.  That night I giggled with my daughter like a little girl at a sleepover. 

We fell asleep and I heard it rain off and on through the night.   I started to get nervous questioning if my guidance was correct?

The next morning we packed up and decided to get out of the wet mountains and camp down at the beach.

We got to the river crossing and it was 3 feet higher than the day before and flowing fast.  We weren't crossing anytime soon.

As we headed past the first campground we saw a couple walking our way. They arrived the day before after we’d left that first campground.

We were happy we weren't alone.  

We walked with them back to the river to get their opinion.  We all agreed it wasn't safe to cross.

Right then another couple came on the opposite side.  I shouted over the loud water saying we were stuck but had plenty of provisions.  I asked them to meet us at 8am the next morning to see about help if we couldn't cross.

Everything was assuring me we would be okay.

I explained to the couple that we should go to the dry shelter where my daughter and I stayed the night before.  They liked the idea.

We all spent that afternoon getting to know each other.  I felt like we had been with them for a week (in every good way.)

There were some interesting synchronicities between their life and mine.  

The biggest synchronicity pertaining to Imbued and the fashion industry…

The girlfriend graduated with a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.  She had her own bikini line featured in Sports Illustrated and even worked designing clothes for Jessica Simpson.  

What are the odds we'd meet under such circumstances?

There are many more incredible details to this story.  As you can see I am safe and able to write about it.  We crossed the river around 6pm that night with the help of an adventurous group and what a story that was.

Last week I was able to meet with my new friends from our camping excursion.

After much frustration finding a well suited sample and pattern maker, I brought my robes and fabrics and my new FIT friend was a wealth of knowledge and had idea after idea on perfect revisions to fine tune Imbued's robe designs.

She's going to help me make the necessary pattern revisions.  My 2 designs should be stream lined for manufacturing in the next several months.  

If I hadn’t asked and listened trustingly about whether we should stay in the mountains, then I would have never met this important person…

And who knows how much longer it would have taken to launch Imbued! What a story.  

You never know until you ask...