Without Service
I knew the day I failed to communicate would eventually come. There was rarely any confusion, worry or distrust between me and others until one day I decided to let having fun and carelessness get in the way. I had always done a pretty good job at communicating to my parents, friends and other people in my life and miscommunication was something that doesn’t happen often. As most of us know, getting caught up in having fun or focusing on other things can take us away from important things that need to be said or done. For me, this happened on July 24th of 2018. It was quite possibly the best day of my life, yet the scariest for both my parents, my sister and all of my friends.
I was in Polson, Montana with my boyfriend’s family and a couple of their friends. We were on vacation for six days to explore the state of Montana and spend time together on Flathead Lake. I flew into Missoula, Montana from Sacramento where I met up with Justin, my boyfriend, and his dad, Tom. We drove for about an hour from the airport to the cabin we were staying on Flathead Lake. When we arrived, I met up with the rest of his family and the others staying with us: Justin’s two older sisters, Daniella and Juliana, his mom, Juliana’s boyfriend and Daniella’s friend. That night, we ate chicken wings, corn on the cob and green beans for dinner. The trip was already going well and I was having a blast. The next day we spent all of our time on the lake, whether it was jet skiing, tubing, boating or wakeboarding. After the day ended and we were all exhausted inside sitting on the couch, we were all thinking about what to do the next day. We ended up planning to drive to Glacier National Park around 4 a.m. the morning of the 24th to go on a ten-mile hike.
We all rolled out of bed with puffy eyes and knotted hair, and threw breakfast granola bars in our bags for the road. Everyone was rushing around the house, grabbing everything we needed for the day and hopping into the huge Chevrolet Tahoe for the 4 hour ride we had ahead of us. Justin and I sat in the back of the SUV with his sister, Daniella. It never crossed my mind to tell my parents I was on my way to Glacier National Park and that I would be without service the whole day. So instead of worrying about that, I closed my eyes and passed out for the whole care ride until we arrived in the parking lot at the base of the hiking trail.
Of course by this time we had already reached an area where there was no service and I could not contact my parents. Let me also tell you that I wasn’t even thinking about telling them because I was so caught up in the moment. We were about to go see icebergs on a lake in the middle of summer which I had never seen before. I have always been interested in seeing new things and exploring different areas all over the world, so when I get an opportunity to be a part of something like this, I get super excited. Most of my distractions came from my focus on living in the moment and being able to view something I might never see again.
The hike was beautiful and quite possibly one of the craziest hikes I’ve ever been on. We came across three brown bears and a black bear storming down the mountain past our trail, and large moose just 10 feet away from us. The hike itself was an uphill, 10 mile round trip through bushes, tall redwoods and rocky floors. We passed multiple waterfalls and clouds of bugs swarming our faces, as well as many other hikers on the trail. Once we reached the end of the trail where the icebergs lay, my mouth dropped. I had never seen something so astonishing. The view is hard to describe and it doesn’t give it enough credit for how amazing it was. We ended up staying by the glaciers for quite some time, and ate lunch and drank some fuzzy water to top it off. We hiked back down the trail, with our bellies full and smiles on our faces.
The day was coming to a close, the sun was setting and the mosquitos were out to get us. We took our time to get back to the car and the base of the hiking trail because we had no where else to be. We all washed off our feet with a hose by the guide’s station, and grabbed some ice cream as a “prize” for the long walk we just had. As I was sitting on a bench just outside of the station, I realized how content I was with everything in that moment. My mind was free of worry and my happiness was at an all time high; life was good. After ice cream, we all hopped in the car and made our way back to Flathead Lake. Everyone’s feet were sore from the 10 miles we hiked that day, our brains full of memories from the wild bears and moose we saw and the endless laughter we shared together. The car ride slowly became quiet as everyone fell asleep to the humming sound of the engine.
It wasn’t until we were completely out of the park when every single phone in the huge Chevrolet Tahoe was buzzing, beeping and blowing up. No one was quite sure what it was until Lisa, Justin’s mom, asked, “Skye, did you tell your parents you were going to be gone all day?.” Her question immediately told me that I was in trouble. It clicked right at that moment, when my phone was full of 55 missed calls from mom and 38 missed calls from dad. Justin’s sisters were even receiving texts from my parents and friends asking if I was alive, where I was and if everyone was okay. My parents also called all of my friends from Davis who were snap chatting me and texting me constantly to ask if I was even alive.
At the time, I was scared and angry at myself for not remembering to communicate. Even though I couldn’t help myself from the amount of fun I had, it was not a good idea to completely forget about my parents because of my “distractions”. Going on a 10 mile hike and coming across three brown bears and one black bear on our trail made me think about how I could have died, and they wouldn’t have known because I never told them I was going to be gone. Once I got service back, I called them and everything was fixed after some yelling on the phone. Both of my parents were still angry at me for my lack of communication, and their trust in me was no longer in sight. I learned that day that I will always tell them what I am doing, where I am going and the times I will be back. The feeling of my parents losing their trust in me, and being scared that I died is something I hope I never feel again.
There were also other factors which played a role in why I did not communicate with my parents. One of those being that everyone else was not texting someone, telling them where they were going that day. The others I was with had either thought about it before the fact or did not need to text someone because the whole family was already with one another. That influence made me feel like I didn’t need to text them or take the time to tell them what we were doing. It was almost like I expected my parents to know, or that someone else would tell them for me. Another reason I did not communicate was because I thought since I was on vacation and I was sixteen years old, I did not need to tell them. I thought I was old and mature enough to “be on my own,” yet I still lived under their roof. My reasons do not make up for my miscommunication and for being confusing in portraying the information to my parents but I have learned from my mistake and I hope it never happens again.
Now that I am in college, I don’t find myself communicating with my parents as much as I used to because I do not live at home anymore. Although, I do find myself using communication with professors, friends, my coach and so many other people everyday for so many different situations. I learned that no matter what I am doing or where I am going, I need to find the time to communicate with others to avoid making them worried or confused. I never intended to put my family in that position, and to this day I have learned that communication is key in all relationships. Successful communication keeps individuals and groups connected through the flow of information and understanding between them. I would suggest to always communicate with your parents and others around you because it can encourage a good working relationship between others, trust, and keep you out of situations such as the one I experienced.
Skye Shaffer 