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<\/a><\/p>\nOr if we actually wanted to be able to find any of the watermelon growing on the vine…<\/p>\n
…it was time to pull up some of that lush greenery.\u00a0 After all, when the ground is saturated, the weed picking is easy and you can even get most of the root, too.\u00a0 So we tramped down to the garden and spent the day freeing the plants and clearing the rows and the garden paths.<\/p>\n Nah.<\/p>\n We went to the river instead.<\/p>\n Because the only thing better than when the river is so low that you can walk across on the rocks is when it’s surging in its banks and racing for the ocean.\u00a0 Which is exactly what it was doing.<\/p>\n When the river’s gentle gurgling changes to a roar that you can hear as soon as you open the car door, you can believe that this little town’s economy was based on a cotton mill where the money flowed like, well,…. water.\u00a0 You can still see that mill today in the background.\u00a0 Except, now, of course, it’s fancy scenic condos with gourmet restaurants on the ground floor.\u00a0\u00a0 Who said gentrification was just for the city folks?<\/p>\n But what doesn’t change is the power of the river to sweep away everything in it’s path when the rains are right.\u00a0 Fallen logs and loose saplings are certainly no match for it’s current.\u00a0 And they were piled up on the few still-visible rocks as evidence of the river’s strength.<\/p>\n Of course, drift wood also leaves evidence that today’s flux in the water level is nothing compared to what it’s been in the past.<\/p>\n Yep, that’s old flood debris stuck underneath the bridge pilings.\u00a0 Flood debris at about the level of the roof on that house in the background.\u00a0 That’s not the kind of river you come down to see after a storm.\u00a0 That’s the kind of river that comes to see you.<\/p>\n And the other thing that doesn’t change is the ability of a rumbling river to shock even farm kids into silence for a minute or two.\u00a0 To sweep away the endless bickering of siblings on summer break, clear their minds of real and imagined slights and taunts, and make their hearts pound with a sense of impending adventure.\u00a0 Thank you, river.\u00a0 Thank you, thank you, thank you thank you, thank you, thank you to infinity and beyond.<\/p>\n And an adventure it was.\u00a0 Middle insisted we could drive our vehicle down the trails.\u00a0 Which just means I should have never mentioned that the river eventually reaches the ocean.\u00a0 Because Middle and Little were convinced for the rest of the afternoon that if I had just been willing to drive, we could have ended up at the beach and seen the sunset over the ocean.\u00a0 I don’t know what concerns me more.\u00a0 The fact that the 2 youngest ones:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 don’t realize we live on the east coast.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 think driving in the car with the windows rolled down constitutes a nature outing<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 thought the minivan<\/strong> would make it through ruts that are so deep that the sides come up to Pretty’s hip.<\/p>\n It’s true what they say.\u00a0 You kind of slack off after the first 2 kids.\u00a0 You just get so tired…<\/p>\n Luckily, they were all distracted by the first big pile of trash we found hung up on the banks.\u00a0 It made for an engaging, if depressing, game of I Spy.<\/p>\n Can you find the shoe?\u00a0 tennis ball?\u00a0 baseball?\u00a0 2 wooden blocks?\u00a0 food processor blade?\u00a0 funnel?\u00a0 spice bottle?<\/p>\n When they exhausted all the items they could identify (and Little claimed the baseball), we moved on and I figured it was time for a brief safety discussion.\u00a0 I reminded them how the current was strong enough to carry them downstream so they needed be careful on the banks and not fall in (Yeah, but it probably isn’t strong enough to carry you, Mom, so you’d be able to save us<\/em>), the trees and debris in the water were unstable and may not support their weight so they should step carefully and slowly out over the water (We’ll just send you out first, Mom.\u00a0 If it holds you, it’ll be safe for us<\/em>), and that the muddy slopes were a lot more slippery than they looked (If we start to slide we’ll just grab onto you.\u00a0 You always sink in the mud<\/em>).\u00a0 Having established that having a mother the size of an elephant<\/span> who can’t say no to chocolate is a huge advantage in the wilderness, I decided to change the subject to avoiding getting lost.<\/p>\n “Every time the trail splits, we will take the path to the left.\u00a0 So on the way back to the car we’ll know to always take the path to the right,”\u00a0 I said.<\/p>\n “Don’t be silly, ” said Big.\u00a0 “We’ll just stay on whatever trail runs closes to the river.\u00a0 Then all we have to do is follow the river back.”<\/p>\n At exactly that time we reached an intersection in the woods.\u00a0 Where 4 trails headed off in different directions.\u00a0 At least one of which veered along a tributary that appeared to mirror the side of the river we had been walking along so far.\u00a0 We paused to consider the implications of this and review the survival advice we had heard over the years.<\/p>\n “Well,” shrugged Pretty, “No matter what, we have the cell phone.\u00a0 So we can call if we get too lost.”<\/p>\n “Of course,” I agreed, thinking of the cell phone that was locked up safely in my purse in the car.\u00a0 And about how I hadn’t mentioned to anyone that we were going to hike on the river trail today.\u00a0 And about how many Made For TV movies I’ve seen about people like me in circumstances like this.<\/p>\n But before I could get too worried, the kids discovered an old beat up soccer ball washed up on a river flat.\u00a0 They immediately launched a successful expedition to recover the ball so that we now had a soccer ball to kick and a baseball to toss as we walked along the trail.\u00a0 It was almost kid heaven.\u00a0 Until they discovered a thick fallen tree that almost reached across the river.\u00a0 They clambered out along the trunk—-a furious current surging against them on one side, and a safe tranquil pool slightly rippling on the other side.<\/p>\n That was<\/em> kid heaven.<\/p>\n It was a shame we didn’t get see more animals, though.\u00a0 Middle and Little did see an amazing heron.\u00a0 The biggest one they’d ever seen.\u00a0 We didn’t get to see it because as soon as they saw it, they shouted, “HOLY COW!!\u00a0 LOOK AT THAT HERON!\u00a0 IT’S THE BIGGEST ONE I’VE EVER SEEN!!!”\u00a0 So it flew away before the rest of us could spot it.<\/p>\n We did get another chance to view it when we approached a small island in the river.\u00a0 Apparently the heron had just flown downstream a bit and settled on the island to fish in the shallows.\u00a0 Or at least that’s what the boys said it was doing when they yelled back to us, “HURRY UP!\u00a0 HURRY UP!!\u00a0 THERE IT IS AGAIN LOOK!\u00a0 LOOK! LOOOOOOOOOOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!”\u00a0 But the heron didn’t like that, either, and it took off for good.\u00a0 Go figure.\u00a0 To think that the Other Half takes those 2 hunting with him every fall.\u00a0 No wonder we ran out of venison for the year already.<\/p>\n We did find heron tracks in the mud.<\/p>\n And while we were down there, had a rousing debate over whether these were raccoon or opossum tracks.<\/p>\n But the peepers and bullfrogs were out and beginning to sing, so I figured we better head back.<\/p>\n Despite my earlier concerns, we didn’t have any trouble finding our way back.\u00a0 We did lose the baseball into a huge puddle with extremely slippery sides.\u00a0 Fortunately, we found a non-poison ivy vine to lower Pretty down to recover it.\u00a0 Which makes the whole thing sound a whole lot easier than it actually was.\u00a0 Since our attempt at Big climbing down unassisted ended up in his pants being declared For Barn Use Only (red mud stains do NOT come out, regardless of commercials claiming otherwise).\u00a0 And our attempt at making a human chain lowering Little down to get it failed when Middle slipped, panicked, and released all the hands he was holding in order to save himself.\u00a0 Turns out a chain is actually only as strong as its Middle link.\u00a0 It also turns out that I am heavy enough to make a decent anchor.\u00a0 Perhaps, the proper evolutionary term is “survival of the fattest.”\u00a0 I’m just saying.<\/p>\n Because it certainly isn’t “survival of the Littlest.”\u00a0 Since Little walked across a snake on trail.\u00a0 Literally stepped right on it’s back without even seeing it or slowing down.\u00a0 A black snake that was just slithering across the trail—clear as day in his black skin against the brown mud.\u00a0 He wasn’t hiding or camouflaged or even holding still.\u00a0 Even though Little was joyously tossing his rescued baseball up and down, you’d think his peripheral vision would have spotted the snake moving.\u00a0 Or some primitive instinct would have been sending off alarm bells.\u00a0 Or the safety warning I’d given them all earlier about watching for snakes on the trails…wait.\u00a0 I did mention watch for snakes on the trails, right?\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 We discussed mud.\u00a0 And river currents.\u00a0 And getting lost.\u00a0 And…Jeez.\u00a0 How did I end up in charge of these little people?<\/p>\n At least it was a black snake, not a copperhead.\u00a0 Like any good black snake, it cleared out after getting stepped on.<\/p>\n Black snakes aren’t known for being aggressive.\u00a0 We pull them by hand right of chicken nests when we need to (That’s the Royal We.\u00a0 I never have, and never will, pull any snake out of anywhere by anything resembling my hand).\u00a0 Besides, if getting stepped on wasn’t enough to scare him off, my screaming was certain to send every snake, heron, raccoon, or opossum in a 10 mile radius into shelter for the night.\u00a0 Screaming is just another one of my highly developed survival skills.<\/p>\n All on all, it was a fabulous adventure.\u00a0 My favorite part was when we got back to the bridge and paused to watch the swallows returning to their nests.<\/p>\n Big and pretty were engaged in a discussion about time and proof of God’s existence.<\/p>\n Pretty<\/strong>:\u00a0 “I don’t understand how God made everything in 7 days but he never mentions the dinosaurs as part of the animals and, besides, even if he did make dinosaurs, everyone knows that humans and dinosaurs didn’t live at the same time.\u00a0 It just doesn’t make sense.”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “Well, I don’t think time meant the way we think about time now.\u00a0 After all, ancient civilizations didn’t think about time as hours and minutes like we do.\u00a0 I guess the Bible doesn’t mean days in the same we do, either.\u00a0 Remember the Bible says Abraham was like 300 years old and but, in the way we figure time, people don’t live that long.”<\/p>\n Little<\/strong> (shaking his head sadly): “Mom, Abraham was 175 years old, not 300.”<\/p>\n Big<\/strong>:\u00a0 ” I think God does things in His own time, not ours.\u00a0 Once I prayed to Him to prove to me that He existed.\u00a0 But He didn’t do anything.\u00a0 Until like a month later when my teacher told me about this book she read called Heaven is For Real<\/a> where a little boy tells about how he died and went to heaven and came back.\u00a0 I guess my teacher talking about it was God’s way of talking through her and telling me that there is proof out there.\u00a0 It just took a while for Him to respond.\u00a0 But maybe it was only like a second for Him and a month for me.”<\/p>\n Me<\/strong>: (speechless)<\/p>\n It surprises me that my kids pray to God to prove that He exists.\u00a0 Although, it shouldn’t.\u00a0 I did it when I was a kid, too.\u00a0 It surprises me that my kids really hear any of the things that they listen to Sunday after Sunday.\u00a0 Although, it shouldn’t.\u00a0 It’s only things like “Take off your shoes in the house” and “No jumping on the couch” that seem to bounce off their eardrums.\u00a0 It surprises me that there are still teachers in public school who aren’t afraid to mention God.\u00a0 Although, it shouldn’t.\u00a0 Christians have been practicing their faith in spite of the rule of law since Christianity began.<\/p>\n Of course, it doesn’t <\/strong>surprise me that God came up while we sitting by the river, wiping the worst of the mud off our boots with sticks, and watching swallows return to their nests for the night.\u00a0 I think it’s easiest for Him to sneak into our hearts and minds when we’re walking in His world, breathing in His air, listening to His river rush by, and screaming in fear at His critters.<\/p>\n To think we almost stayed home to pull weeds.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n