The time has come for me to do my river reflection. Of course, I had to pick a day where it was near freezing because I procrastinated on doing this earlier. The timing worked out though seeing as both me and my best friend from home were feeling a little down today. We had agreed to both go on walks outside and just talk about life and other things. When I first got to the river, I felt a bit weirded out seeing as I was the only one at the river that I could see. Usually, places where I’m completely by myself freak me out and this was no exception. I decided to call my friend right away to just be able to have someone else there with me, even if she wasn’t exactly there. Although it did take me a while for my hands to thaw off, I dialed as quickly as possible.
When my friend answered, it felt like a moment of relief. I don’t usually talk on the phone, as I feel like I’m really awkward but just hearing my best friend’s voice after months of not seeing her was enough comfort for me. Our friendship is always one where it leaves off completely as it was when we last saw each other. We have been best friends since elementary school and have even both gone away for boarding school together. Because we have always been so close, I feel comfortable telling her absolutely everything.
We talked for a while about what we were both going through. Although it is hard, it made things a lot easier to be able to just look at the river and see it so calm. It seemed that even though life was throwing us both curveballs, it felt therapeutic to talk about it where we could both breathe in fresh air. Although I felt alone, both figuratively and literally, it felt nice to hear the birds chirping over head and to hear the insects that were housed in the grass. Every now and then wind would come and just make things interesting-and cold. It would blow the blades of grass and shake the trees. The whole experience just seemed like one big symbolism.
After I got off the phone with my friend, I stayed at the Trinity just soaking it all in. Although we have been talking about it all semester, I really felt that nature was just a part of me. When we saw “A River Runs Through It”, we talked about how the river could be a symbol for something that is always flowing no matter what is going on around it. I felt that at the Trinity that day. Even through all the stressful things happening, the river was still so calm. It seemed to just be doing its own thing regardless of what everything else was doing. It felt like I wasn’t alone through all the animals that resided at the Trinity. It seemed as though they were all there too- as cheesy as that sounds. The wind was something that I both hated and loved. It caused me to shake with coldness, but it was a constant reminder that things happen outside of your control sometimes. There was nothing I could do to stop it, it just happened. It came and went and everything was fine after it left.
Sometimes you find answers in the most unexpected places. I found mine at the Trinity that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment