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Chris and Dave Wattenberg It
was one of those cold fall days.
A cool sprinkle was falling from the sky. Although it was almost As we entered the store we felt camaraderie. Everyone seemed happy. Somehow on this wet and gloomy day everyone’s spirits were high. There was a light hearted attitude. Were people were crowded together; there was none of the usual pushing. This was a store we visited often. On a bright sunny summer day or a cold dark winter day the feeling of the store is normally of people in a hurry and everyone is an individual. The noise level is usually high. People ignored each other. Not so on this day. Several
years ago we drove down to The walk we took was along the river. Since the water was fast moving it did not freeze. On the surface there was ice. Behind the ice the water still flowed. As it crashed at the bottom the waterfalls sent out a mist. Everything down wind was coated with a thick layer of ice. This would have been beautiful even if the temperature had been below zero. After all, that is what we came to see. With the warm snap, there was a thin layer of water on top of the ice. As you all know, there is nothing slipperier than glaze ice covered with water. Descending into the stone lined river canyon along the narrow trail we soon encountered this slippery ice. We, of course, slipped and fell. There were some people coming the other way that saw us and started to laugh. They exclaimed that they, and everyone else, were falling. We should stick with it. The view was well worth the effort. We continued along the trail. There ahead of us was, of all things, a gleaming ice cover staircase. We had visions of bouncing down these stairs. Some of the people coming the other way took one look at us and ran off. They returned a few seconds later and through handfuls of sand on the stairs for us. To go over all the events of that walk would take many pages. Let us just say that it was a day of camaraderie. Everyone seemed happy. Everyone was smiling. On
one of those warm days in a
February we put on our dry suits, dry waterproof jumpsuits to keep one
from
freezing in ice water. We put our kayaks into the freezing water and
started to
run the Delhi Rapids, near With the February thaw the rapids were much rougher. The water was so high that the island in the middle of the rapids was gone. In fact, the water was to the second set of limbs on the tree in the center of the island. That is were the problem arose. On shooting the rapid Chris went over the island and that first branch, under the water, caught her kayak and flipped her. Dave had made it through but since neither kayak has spray skits, there was a significant amount of water in the kayak. Chris bobbed to the surface and yelled to Dave that she was fine and he should retrieve her kayak. He grabbed the Kayak and looked back to check on her. She was swimming to the shore. We heard a person on the road. He had stopped his car and wanted to make sure we were not in trouble. Chris screamed back that we were in control. There was too much water in Dave’s kayak for him to hold onto the second kayak with one hand and paddle with the other. He had to let go of the second kayak in order to get to shore. By that time Chris was on shore. Dave beached the kayak and stepped onto the ground next to the kayak. The river was running so high that it had risen to the top of the banks. When Dave tried to step into the shallows by the bank he there was no shallows. He dropped into water that was over his head. He quickly surfaced and scrambled onto the shore. One kayak was on the shore and the other was floating, very quickly, down stream. They decided to leave for the day and come back the next day to try to retrieve the lost kayak. With two cars and two inflatable kayaks they went downstream the next day and found the wayward kayak. Some would say that three days can be explained as people sharing pain or danger coming together. Looking at it from the energy, it was much more. The pain did not have any energy. The pretenses and facades were down. The people were sharing the experience. They were sharing their energy. Add
to people that in all three
occurrences there was fresh, clean, natural water. Flowing water is
full of
energy. The There are many relaxation CDs are based on water. There are sound of rain, babbling brooks, the surf and more. Watching a lake, river or ocean is very relaxing and yet energizing. We snorkel and have been white water kayaking and rafting. Over and over we hear people say how thrilling these experiences are. After a day of white water rafting they are excited, energized and tired. We are also excited and energized. We are not tired by these experiences. The difference is that the other people talk about conquering the river. We do not fight the river, we join the flow. The more we are “at one” with the river, the more energy we have. A
single drop of rain is of little consequence.
Together, many of them form a cooling rain. Over time they form a
river, like
the Too many people, without a constructive goal, are a mob. Together they can be an audience or a movement. We do not usually endorse or recommend organizations in these articles. There is an organization has come together, literally from around the world, to read public domain literature. The group is at www.librivox.org and the audio books are free, download and enjoy them. In our area, the Detroit area, the healers form a community. As we talk with healers who have moved here from other parts of the county are amazed by the way we all support each other. They also notice that more is being done in our area then in many more populated areas. Each of us is like a drop of water. Together we are the Great Lakes. Return |
