View Beyond the Dam

[Browsing through older writing and found this memory from early summer of last year.]

Between meetings Kristen and I go on a magic jaunt.

Feeling cramped on our usual walks I’ve been going on longer treks by myself. Our we-space is shifting as each of us grounds in our growing personas. The walk and talk practice we’ve built up over years feels strained, so we’re trying something new. We set out, up over the big dam and down between baseball fields, all empty and standing water after the rain. A path through the woods spills out onto the wide riverbank.

No one around save a hawk and some ducks. It feels glorious to clamber over the rocky shore at the place where two rivers meet. We skip stones and peer back from where we came. I feel the rejuvenation of a boy playing in nature and bask in it for awhile.

After at time we climb back through the giant vines of the forest and up onto the dam to take in the view across the river. Our perspectives overlap and fill in the holo-graphic of the place. A memory palace of nature and reflection painted in an early summer palette.

Light breaks through the clouds and in the pooled water just past the flow of the dam we see giant, cavorting turtles. “Look how big they are!” They swim and dive in the emerald water like emissaries from an ancient realm. A bale of them slide up the shore to bask in the sun.

Bright, white cranes stand century at the lip of a submerged concrete wall running across the width of the river, occasionally spearing surprised fish. We look at each other and smile and the stress of the world melts into the spillway and washes down stream to become the rain of someone else’s purpose.

When home I feel in my body no particular need to be anywhere. The first I’ve felt anything like this in weeks. Savoring the sense as it diffuses away again into the deluge of concerns.

Hope you’re well 🌞🤙🐢