I have canoed, swam, sailed and even rafted down a river, but now I will float for over a mile with the current. Giving myself to the stream as if part of the water itself. A meditation of sorts, being time rich, that is not being in a hurry and allowing my mind to go blank, trying to feel in the moment.
Why?
To understand? I know there is a lesson. At least, a test.
The greatest challenge I already know will be the cold. These waters are chilly and I will be spending about two hrs. in the water if I make it the whole mile. Hypothermia is a real possibility but I so look forward to this adventure.
Its a late summer day, mostly sunny and little wind. Just about as good as it will get when it comes to spending a long day in cold water. Now its time to go. I will always remember that very second because up above my head a vulture was circling, soaring in ever larger circles. Just then a chill ran up my back and goose bumps rose over my arms and legs. Could that large bird overhead know something more about the day to follow?
I have to say, the first part of getting into the water was a challenge, it was refreshing, but in two hrs., it will be dang cold!
The stream is close to the sea shore and the flow is very slow due to a minimal grade of slope, at least if I need to get out, it should be pretty easy. The river bottom is a bit slick and slimy but really feels good squishing up between my toes. The waters are a deep reddish brown color, that is due to the cedar swamps these waters run through. So beautiful and quite unique.
I am now up to my nose in water. Lift my feet and away I go.....
Reeds, grasses, cedars are all around. I find it is not easy to float in these fresh waters because I am fairly thin and not too buoyant. So I kick slightly and find the river current and I move nice and slow. Then a tangle of grasses. I stop, go again, tangled again, stop... walk then tangled again as I find I am not floating. I know of others who have floated down this very stream, did they have this much trouble? It was a struggle that went on for a while. I was getting tired and getting no where. I have to do this in about two hrs., any longer and I will be too cold! So instead of getting angry or frustrated I decided to turn over and float on my back.
Now, the sky was a pale blue with cotton ball white clouds smattering the sky in an even coating. Just above me rose a swarm of flies, dozens... no hundreds but none bothered me. Just then a swallow came zipping by me at lightening speed and you know what? I forgot, and became so engrossed in what was going on around me that I lost track of time and my earlier problems, I was moving down stream, I was so enjoying my time and most important, I wasn't cold.
Until I thought about it. Then, wham! I was freezing cold. Shivering uncontrollably. I pulled myself to shore and laid there on a partially muddy stream edge in between a bunch of reeds.
Ok, after a 20 minute break I was warm again. I slid slowly back into the waters. Then started to float down stream on my stomach once again. A second later, I was stuck. Lots of cedar logs, which rot slowly and have multiple branches still attached, reeds and grass. I tried to pull myself through the down logs and scratched my stomach all up. Then got stuck in the thick bog mud around the swamp area I found myself in. Wow, this is not easy and I still have so long to go! Just at this point, a place of being tired, dirty and getting cold, that I remembered back to when this was all working.
I flipped to my back and started to float, not working against the grasses and reeds, but not caring and trusting the waters to take me where ever it wanted. The current ever so gently picked me up and guided my body around one, then two, then three huge down cedars. I watched the squirrels quarreling above my head, the clouds drifting past my head, and the grasses bending and moving along my head. My mind left my troubles behind and I slowly slid along not a care in the world. This is what it feels like to be one with your surrounding. It was beyond description. I felt so happy I began to shed a tear. I did not want this time to ever end. I drifted not disturbing a single living thing. The birds never fled in alarm, the insects parted way as I came by. Life was good! Just at that point I found myself approaching a brown colored bridge, my journey had ended. I pulled myself from the waters and just then, not for the last 30 minutes, just now, I was getting cold again. Having to crawl out of that natural church of sorts. A place so spiritually holly, only to have to walk up to the waiting car, along a loud highway scattered with garbage and debris.
I had just gotten one of the greatest gifts of life though fleeting, it still resonates with me today. To live life as one with your surroundings. It is almost effortless. Live life swimming outside the natural flow, it is hard and sometimes painful. The answer I came to...
Always go with your heart. And that is what I do, my heart leads me and I am happy.
