Away We Go: Shhh

Hundreds of connected ‘S’ curves mark the path of the mighty river that stretches through the middle of this country’s northern tip to its southern toes.

The river is saying shhh. Quiet, it whispers as it floats by.

This isn’t the Colorado, leaving behind sharply etched valleys and craggy mountain ranges. That one is all waves and angles and thrill-seeking rafters. It's the Z to the Mississippi’s S, which is flat and wide and the jumbling happens under the surface. All the dirt, mud and soil it picks up along the way renders visibility null.

This one is blues. That one is rock ‘n roll.

Both hold undefinable power. Down vs. across. Clear vs. muddy. The Mississippi drawls. Maybe that's where the Southerners got the pace of their speech. Taking a cue from the river that says shhh as it makes its way to the ocean.

There's a message here too about forward progress. You can rage towards it, move granite out of your way, curl into whitewater at all the obstacles below. You can have clarity and coldness of purpose.

Or you can be slower, more contemplative. Wider in your reach. Picking up things along the way and carrying them with you for the long haul. This is a path that, without question, takes longer. This is not the most efficient. By the end you’ve covered far more ground.

Both make it to the end. Both take what they have and sigh as they release it into vast salty waters so unlike their own. They let themselves mingle with the wide expanse of water that takes up more of the earth than that which we put our two feet every day.

Some of those drops will rise in the air again to be shuttled in clouds back towards land. To rise and then deposit their water in snow or rain which will find its way back towards the ocean. Some may descend towards the same river they came from, some may take a journey on another. They may try being muddy for a time. Or they may be a part of the crashing cold clearness of the one that bears trout and fallen pine needles.

The path are so numerous. Each way is full of turns, whether they are vertical or horizontal. It will all end up there in the saltwater mixed with all the rest of the drops from upriver.

Along the way, this one I’m crossing over right now will say shhhh.

It will say, quiet now. Listen.

We can take the long way.

Inspired by events in Refuge, Mississippi.