Parents, you’ve got peace like a river. As a boy, I was drawn to any kind of water: swimming pools, creeks, mud puddles, oceans, ponds, lakes, waterfalls and rivers. We even had a small waterfall in the entryway of our house, which looked out to the lake from a large bank of windows. When I wasn’t swimming, skiing, canoeing, cliff or bridge jumping, boating, houseboating, or fishing in the water, I was usually asleep… maybe a bit of exaggeration, but I spent a lot of time in and around the abundant waters of East Tennessee and the Southeast. Even in winter, I was content to be at swim practice in an indoor pool, walking near the river, or snow skiing on frozen water. My favorite teen jobs were lifeguarding at local pools, and teaching kids to waterski. There were times when I spent the day with dozens of teens on our houseboat for a church youth group ski day and times when I was fishing quietly in solitude in an isolated lake cove. There is just something about how two Hydrogen atoms connect to an Oxygen atom by the bazillions that not only sustained my life, but made it joyful, peaceful and at times exhilarating. Once, as an adult, I had taken a group of students on a rafting trip on the Ocoee River. It was thrilling. There was one particular part of the trip that the guide said we could check the security of our life jackets and jump in if we wanted. The water was cool and calming, like a lazy river ride at a waterpark, only real and better. As I floated motionless for a couple of minutes, it was probably one of the most peaceful times I can remember in my life. As I floated on my back, my ears went under water, sounds were muted. I stared up into the blue sky until I closed my eyes. I could have stayed there all day bobbing, floating in that bliss, suspended between the rocky, bumpy bottom of the beautiful river and the cares, challenges, pains, and the seemingly endless responsibilities of life that awaited me at the end of the raft ride. The guide instructed us to get back into the raft quickly, because the upcoming rapids would be challenging and he assured us the class 4’s would be much more challenging if we were outside the raft.
