FLOATING

Life is an ocean stretching far beyond my reach, emoting so many moods: energy on steroids one day, a limp noodle on another.

So deep. Stopping momentarily, I look into the blue-gray depths to see a world teeming with vitality. I sense the rhythm below and the whoosh of the swells as they lap up on the water-logged shore.

A chameleon. Flamboyant billowy clouds skating across azure fields reflected onto this fluid life. Then, abruptly, colossal and ominous clouds thunder their warning to sailors. Beware! Enormous waves dwarf my boat. How dare I trespass.

Resting place. I wonder about the multitude who have faced these frothing mountains only to lose their grip and fall into Neptune's clutches.

Salty water gushes into my boat. What if I capsize? Will I finally sink down... down... down... until I submit as the pressure crushes from the outside in? And with no oxygen left to feed my brain, what will happen to a lifetime of stored-up thoughts? Are they all lost?

Simply lazy. Flatwater days arrive at last. Glassy, smooth days where peace wears the crown, and all is well under his reign--well, maybe too good to be true days. Boredom seeps in. Nothing to contend with, to champion, to explore.

The ebb and flow change, and so must I. Stroking gently, I move forward, defeating stagnancy. A momentum is achieved, and then a thought flutters nearby. Frantically, it buzzes first in brilliant blues, then oranges, and finally blinks a red of impatience to capture my full attention to its urgency.

Oh? My daughter? What's up? Never mind. I reach for my drawer overflowing with note cards covered in flowers, masculine stripes, and paisley. Yes, the wild one... that suits her.

Penning a heartfelt string of words that express the wonder of who she is--they stream from the depth of a piece of my ocean.

I throw this as a life preserver on my daughter's bed. A discovery she will read upon her return. 

I settle comfortably back into a black inner tube. My neck leans back just right in the curve as I relax again amidst the rise and fall of the waves.