Halcyon days / Autumn Beauty

Today was a great day. I had lunch at Bombay with my sister and her boyfriend which was a lot of fun. After that, things were looking grim. I was hanging out not doing anything, shiftless, avoiding homework. Another Sunday wasted in front of a screen.

Then, everything turned around. 2 of my good friends and I went out for coffee, and decided to go for a drive. Meijer Gardens was closed by the time we got there. By the time we would have reached the beach, it would have been sunset. So we just went cruising in the countryside. Small Midwest American towns. Autumn beauty. Open windows, wind in our hair, laughter, the beauty of youth.

We pulled off the road and parked in a quarry-esque place and walked down to the river. The shore line was beautiful, not too heavily wooden, still green, not too many artifacts of humanity. Standing on the bank, looking across the expanse of water, my housemate decided to hop in the water. He stripped down to his skivvies and waded right in, cursing all the while.

It took a few minutes for my other friend to do the same. I was left alone on the shore, soaking in the beauty of the moment...but not participating. A neutral observer. Thinking how everything was so perfect, so storybook. It took me a few minutes to realize that something was missing. I could observe this moment all I wanted. I was perfectly content on the shore, watching my two friends splash about.

But I realized that even though I was content, I would always regret not jumping in. So I stripped down and tentatively waded in. It was cold, the riverbed was rocky, and after just a few minutes my heartrate was jacked and I was having problems breathing.

And it was beautiful.


And I realized that in my life, I stand on the shore a lot, looking at the water, but never jumping in. I can act impartial, neutral, outside of it all. But I you only live once.




Addendum - the ride home was a lot of fun also. Our clothes were wet and muddy. We looked a bit like drowned rats. We were cold. And we sang together. Driving as the sun was setting, belting out Avril Lavigne, Green Day, Nickleback....every bad song we could think of, we sang.