Baptism.. of sorts...

This is where I went swimming tonight:

Walden Pond

And, quite frankly, it was a magical moment for me  -- connected with a past that leaves a tangable memory in how all of us live our lives... looking for the simplicity of soul and spirit that gives our lives meaning. We feel the words of Henry Thoreau when he wrote:

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

So many people are turning to, seeking for, defining what it means to live a life that is simple -- that is, less cluttered with things, stress, hurry, or demands. He asked:

Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?

In short, why should we waste our lives, our energy, in rushing through our lives instead of savoring each blessed moment?

As I floated on my back, watching the few skiffs of clouds glide across the sky, these words hit home with me. There is too much hurry in life; we want "it" (whatever "it" is) done too soon. Call it our Puritan cultural roots; a life is wasted that is not filled.

Henry observed:

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.


There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

My world shifted in those moments as I floated there, in water that was in the 70s with an air temperature of 98-plus. A breeze danced in the trees a long the shore; children and parents, lovers, friends, splashed, dunking in and out of the water. It was as if time had stood still for everyone in that place at that time. We were joined in the pleasure of the moment -- delighting in the wafting waves, the caressing breeze, the gritty pond bottom, and the strata of temperatures in the water.

There are places, moments, in our lives that are sacred and make a change in who we are -- a deep change that we cannot describe to another. As I sit here, head still wet from the pond water, I know that I have found something, a core of who I am, in the quiet moments at the pond. The Mister and I have made many choices these past few years that have set us on a distinct path. I know it is right.