"In three words I can sum up everything I know about life. It goes on."
~ Robert Frost ~
"The past cannot be changed, but the future is still within our reach."
~ AGHS Class of 1979 Motto ~
I, Eliot and the canoe inched along in total silence as we drifted aimlessly down the Missouri River. There were no sandbars to navigate. Nothing but open water and smooth sailing required that I occasionally only rudder the boat to maintain direction. With my feet up and hands locked behind my head, I leaned back in total bliss, enjoying the moment as the morning sun danced off the ripples of the water. And there he was.
In complete ignorance of the approaching foreigner, a young coyote came to the water's edge seeking food and water. I came to full attention and tried ever so quietly to sit up, remove my camera from it's water-proof case, turn it on, adjust the settings and prepare for the shot. After what seemed like minutes, but took only seconds, I turned to zoom in on this gorgeous creature. But since the river was flowing at a blinding speed of just over 5 miles per hour, he was already a hundred yards behind me. I did my best to twist in my seat for one last view of the coyote who was now standing on the bank in a puzzled stance, probably having never seen a long silver fish skimming the water. In desparation I zoomed out to the limits of the lens and hoped for the best, grabbing one of three shots you see above. And then it was gone. The moment, the opportunity, the coyote, the experience....................vanished.
I was on the final leg of my river odyssey before I became aware of two important additional life-lessons, free for the taking from the power of the Mighty Mo. On day one, of course, I was schooled in the art of going with the flow of the river......of life. Because of that vital lesson, I spent the next two days of the journey more relaxed, perhaps even more "in sync" with the river. Sure, there were many more sandbars to navigate, rain and even a thunderstorm to escape, but I took them all in stride. They were part of the experience and I had been reminded to quit fighting. Some of my best memories of the trip are of being temporarily stuck on a sandbar and dragging the canoe to open water, or scrambling up the wooded bank of an island to seek cover from an approaching storm. It was wonderful.
But on this day, my final day, as the coyote and his puzzled expression disappeared behind my relentless progress downstream, I was reminded of my next lesson. While on this little odyssey, I had observed many wonderful things, animals and landmarks. Some I stopped to explore. Others received an idol glance as I floated by. Yet every experience shared one very important characteristic. They were behind me.....past......gone. No matter how much I wanted to go back and relive each experience, it simply wasn't possible. The river flows relentlessly downstream, remember?
It doesn't take a river trip to see where I'm heading with this. It's life. Directly behind my first lesson of life's flow, came the part I simply couldn't ignore. As life flows, experiences pass. And then they're gone. The MEMORY of the experience remains (or at least it usually does), but you can't go back to relive it. That's the beauty of living in the moment. We hear about that a lot these days, don't we? "I'm living in the moment." Or, "I live each moment to the fullest."
But those are different aren't they. EVERYONE lives in the moment. It's not really a choice. Each of us has only this moment in which to live. Some of us just realize it more than others. But I digress. We were talking about the past. You know, that thing that happened just seconds ago.
Each and every one of us has "a past." It's there alright. It's there in the form of a memory, an experience, or maybe even a life lesson. But that's all. You can't go back there physically any more than I could paddle upstream against a strong current to linger a bit longer with my coyote friend. And even if you could, it wouldn't be the same as when you left it. Surely you've revisited your home town or old vacation spot thinking you'd be able to relive a past event only to find everything had changed. Life flows. Things move past us and then they're gone.
We have a choice, as so boldly pointed out in the quote by our loving Dr. Seuss. "Don't be sad it's over. Be happy that it happened." And that's the truth. We can spend our lives dwelling in old memories or struggling to relive them. Or we can simply be happy they happened, add the experience to our inventory, and move on. I can wish for more time or a better picture of my friend the coyote, or just be thankful I got to see him at all. Because just like on that river, you can look back for a last glance, or even try paddling back, but life flows and just around the bend is your next experience, your past obstructed from view.
So let's be happy that it happened, shall we? I know it's easier said than done and I have certainly failed miserably at being happy on more than one occasion. But I keep moving forward, keep flowing and keep logging a new "past." Be happy.
What's done is done.
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