Too Much of a Good Thing

Why do we not listen to Aristotle more often?  He warned us to follow the golden mean.  That even good things taken in excess produce bad results.  So, why do we resist. 

Brooke and I got away this weekend for a much needed retreat.  We skipped town, headed down to San Antonio, ready for a weekend of fun and relaxation.

We ate at a wonderful hole in the wall Mexican restaurant on Friday night called "Taqueria Vallarta."  We went to bed early because we were exhausted and ready for an early morning getting up to the Guadalupe river for a river float.

We got on the river before 10:00 because the river tubing place ran a 2 for 1 special before 10:00.  We got our tubes and our drinks and sunscreen and headed out. 

The minute we jumped into the water we realized that before 10:00, without the Texas mid-day heat help, the water was actually freezing.  Yet we got used to it, and soon, we were loving life.  The sun was rising fast and the heat was coming in, yet the river kept us cool.  Apart from a few rapids, we were in relaxation bliss.  It was a three hour float, and by the second hour we kept looking at each other and saying things like, "is this heaven," "This is so nice," "why don't we do this more often?"

Toward the end of the float we asked ourselves, "how about another trip down the river, we have time." 

Here is where Aristotle's golden mean comes in.  Things were perfect, and we should have left it at that.  Not only did the second trip become much more crowded, the Sun became much more intense.

So, here we are, a day and a half later, both groaning and grunting with every move because our scorched skin ails us.  Even with plenty of sunscreen, the last day and a half have been largely miserable because neither one of us could say no to "too much of a good thing."