Out of Nowhere

The low tumbling clouds over the lake left me with a shadowy view of the rows of geese and triangular families of ducks with whom I shared the lake.

At times, until items were quite nearby, it was as if they didn’t exist. Acutely aware of the hazards posed by this situation, I kept my stand-up paddling nearer to the shore and kept an eye out for hazards such as taller rocks or logs previously carried in by flooding waters, but since settling on the bottom, with wooden arms reaching for the surface. I propelled my board, slicing through the lake while my face and body divided the droplets that comprised the fog, each one forced to choose a side or hop on for a ride.

When I arrived at the bridge, I sat and relaxed, observing the fog as it interacted with the lake.

Close to the lake it was white and seemed impermeable, hiding even mountains behind its fuzzy blanket. I couldn’t even see Goose Island, but could hear the occasional honking of its inhabitants. On top, it was mobile, rolling and twisting like the curly hair of a freckle-faced child sans the intense ginger color.

From under the fog, seemingly out of nowhere for no reason, emerged a large wake. The water swelled and rolled with intensity, a parade of waves marching towards the shore. As the parade passed by the nearby geese and ducks, they rode the waves seemingly undisturbed with their calm exteriors rising to the occasion. Up shore the left edge of the waves crashed into the rocks while the rest of the wave traveled at an angle towards me. There is no stopping a wave, only responding to it by riding it out with a flexible, calm exterior. I paddled into it gently to avoid the inevitable crash of the water into the rocks. Eventually the waves in the parade shrunk and then disappeared and I was looking at the fog once more. Several thoughts occurred to me:

Things do not happen for no reason. Even if you don’t know or understand the reason, there is one. While I could not see the source of the wake, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Some things are inevitable once the event is happening. There is nothing that can be done to stop or change the situation, the only available choice is in the response.

Sometimes the best response is to go towards the situation head on, responding sooner and minimizing the effect. Sometimes it is better to observe and know that “this, too, shall pass.”

Prior experiences are the teachers for the future. The day I made peace with the wake was preparing for today.