In a effort to give back to and thank our local communities, Crystal River Spas of Carbondale announced the first annual essay contest in July of 2009. 1,500 words on how hot water therapy would improve their life. The winning entry was from Deana, Rolf and Sage Hermanson of Glenwood Springs, the prize was a brand new hot tub from Crystal River Spas. Deana's essay is a wonderful reminder of how priceless hot water therapy can be! Congratulations to the Hermanson family!

2009 Crystal River Spas Essay contest winning entry:

Hello, my name is Deana Hermanson. I am a mother of three beautiful children and have a wonderful husband to boot! The reason I feel like I should win a new spa is I would use this spa for some much needed "de-stressing" and "relaxation". Now you may ask why would this mother of three with a wonderful husband need to "de-stress" and "relax". Well let me take you back about four years. In August of 2005 I was a single mother, living in New Orleans, with two children, who's father passed away several years earlier. I worked very hard to keep my family running smoothly and feel I did a great job doing so under the circumstances.

I was born and raised in New Orleans and have been through several hurricanes during my life and can't even recall how many times I evacuated my home. However, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed my life. My two kids and I evacuated our home on Saturday and the worse storm in history hit our town on Monday. We spent a week at my grandparent's home, along with several other family members and pets, without electricity, minimal food, gas and water. After a week of not knowing what happened to our home, we were finally able to go back into town and see what was left. The city was under Marshall Law at this time and we only had 6 hours to go in and get what we could. We were told we would not be able to return to our homes for at least a month. So needless to say I grabbed the necessities and left for Colorado to stay with family.

I moved to Glenwood Springs in September 2005 and my life changed for ever! My kids and I were not able to stay with our family for very long and had to find a new place to live or move back to New Orleans. I didn't have much money left after all of the moving and traveling due to the hurricane, and finding a reasonable place to live in Glenwood was not an easy thing. So for one week (the week right before Thanksgiving) we had no place to live, until a complete stranger offered us a room in her house to use while we found a place of our own. Luckily, I was able to get some financial help from FEMA and we were able to rent a fully furnished house in downtown Glenwood. From this point on, my new life was starting to turn around. We moved into our new place a few days before Thanksgiving. So that year, we were very thankful to have a roof over our heads. By December I had a job at the local bank as a part time receptionist. I have now been with the bank for 3 years and have worked my way up to Branch Manager.

In April 2006, I was invited to a Chamber Business after hours party with a co-worker at the bank and this is where I met my soon to be husband. He was so charming and we hit it off immediately. We dated for several months and then he proposed to me, when he gave me my engagement ring he had to explain the meaning of stones on it. The ring has three diamonds on it, one for me and two for my two children. Also, on the ring, it has two colored stones; a ruby for my daughter's birthstone and an emerald for my sons. These stones were put on here because he wasn't just marrying me…he was marrying all of us! Wonderful, I know!

On Mother's day 2006, a few months after we moved to Glenwood, my son who was almost 8 years old was invited to go rafting for the first time with a friend. Being from the South, where the only high River we have is the Mississippi River, I was not aware how dangerous the river's in Colorado could be. This was the day I found out. My son's boat flipped in the Roaring Fork River and he was tossed out of the boat. Our friend, who is an older gentleman, got his leg stuck on a boulder and was unable to reach my son. The next thing he knew he was floating down the river alone and about to go through Cemetery rapids with only a life jacket. My daughter and I were waiting at the take out for them, when we saw their boat float by upside down. That was the most horrible feeling I had ever felt. Then we saw search and rescue on side of the river and I went to them to ask what happened. They told me that a little boy fell in the river and they couldn't find him. And as I am typing this, my eyes are watering, because it brings back memories of the best and worst day of my life! After a few hours of searching for my son, I was told that they found him. He had been pulled out of the river by a yellow lab named Zion. It was truly a miracle that a little girl and her dog were playing fetch by the river that day. They saved my son's life that day. And if that is not enough, after all of the excitement of hurricanes and raging rivers we packed up the family and moved to Canyon Creek. About two weeks after we moved into our new home, here comes the Canyon Creek fire. We were told that there was a mandatory evacuation for our neighborhood and we had to leave our new home. Fortunately we still had most of our belongings in boxes and we simply loaded the trailer back up and headed out. My children were devastated and asked "why does this always happen to us?" and I simply told them that everything happens for a reason and if the fire takes our house then it wasn't meant for us to live there. But luckily the wonderful fire fighters saved our home and we were able to go back to our house days later.

My husband and I got married in August 2007. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and family members from all over attended. We had a beautiful baby girl in January 2009 and my husband officially adopted my two children in April 2009. My husband says "It took a natural disaster for him to find me", "and it took a good ol' Southern girl to tie him down!" Little did he know the joys, pains and drama that comes with raising kids! I currently work in the banking business, which has been a whirlwind with the current economic situation. I am in management and I am responsible for several staff members and all of the day to day operations. My job is hard when times are good, even harder when times are bad. I love my job, but it is very demanding and stressful at times. I feel that I manage my stress level very well while I am at work, but when I get home I feel all of the stress in my neck and shoulders. I always tell my husband we should go sit in the hot springs to relax, but once we get to our house, the last thing we feel like doing is driving back into town to go to the hot springs. So this is where having a spa at the house comes in handy. My husband and I are very active members of the community. We are both members of Kiwanis and spend a lot of our spare time volunteering. This community welcomed me and my children with open arms after the hurricane and it only feels right to give back by getting involved in community events. My husband is also an Ambassador and on the board for the GWS Chamber and very involved with our church. Our children also keep us very busy. My daughter is a cheerleader at GSHS, she sings with the varsity choir, plays volleyball and lacrosse. My son, who will be in 6th grade this year plays football, soccer and is a member of the GWS library teen book club. We are a very busy, active, involved family and so many people ask me "How do you do it all?" and I simply tell them "we don't know any other way!".

I am sure reading this you might think to yourself…how can this much stuff happened to one person in a life time? Well I am only 33, and I am sure I will have tons of stories to tell by the time I am in my senior years. It has been an unbelievable wild journey to get us where we are today. But I wouldn't change it for anything. Even with all of the tragedy in my life, I know that I am truly blessed to have been picked up and placed in such a wonderful place! So it would be WONDERFUL to go home from a long day of kids, customers, employees, practices, etc. and sit in my new hot tub from Crystal River Spas to "relax" and "de-stress" from my wonderful, crazy, amazing, unbelievable life!