stepping stone sunday: fall in the river immediately
Nature hates calculators. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
We live very near the Botanical Gardens here in Asheville. It's a short walk to nature, stream, rocks, path, bugs. Tess loves it.
One fine spring day, we went there to play on the rocks in the river. I spent a lot of energy trying not to fall in. My camera. My shoes. My striped Smart Wool socks. My blue jeans. My bag. The distance to the next rock. Algebraic equations of moss, wet, distance. Not falling in occupied the part of my brain that would have been better used for smiling and/or laughing the big laugh.
Tess, on the other hand, "fell in" immediately. She got it over with right from the start. Getting soaked was more fun; falling in immediately took the anticipation out of the equation and left her with now. Simply now. Now. And simply here. Here.
We lose so much by anticipating, fearing, trying to stay dry. Life is wet and now. Messy, sweet messy. Get soaked to the very bone! Then falling becomes less fearful.
This Sunday, looking at the stones of your week as they arrange themselves in front of you, fall in the river immediately. You can dry off later. Or let the sun do the trick.
