It is a wonder that we worry about anything. Coming out to the river helps me remember how small and young I am compared to the natural world around me. We have been paddling a part of the river where there are water gaps etched out of the mountains over millennia. Things may change for better or worse in the short run, but in the long run, the mountains shift and change very little.
My good friend, Fran Taft, wrote of revisiting her home town after an absence of decades. She didn’t recognize anything…except the gap in the hills that she knew as a child in central New York State. I thought of her a lot today as we paddled through these ancient gaps in the hills that have seen much change in the last few centuries….but little change over the millennia.
Don’t worry about the little changes. The things that matter most in life are there for us like these gaps.
I love to be reminded of this perspective. And only by coming out into the midst of the grounding power of nature do I remember these lessons.
Of course there is still danger lurking. These water gaps provide from some pretty turbulent waters with rock ledge that is still protruding from the river bed after thousands of years. We got hooked up on one of those ledges today but came out safely. Another ledge provided an adrenaline rush as we dropped about a foot over the stone. Again all was well and a little adrenaline is good for the body.
Paddle With Us 