"No Wave Lasts Forever"

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"Hope" is a thing with feathers-
that perches in the soul-
and sings the tune without the words-
and never stops - at all-

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
and sore must be the storm -
that could abash the little Bird
that kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -
and on the strangest Sea -
Yet, never, in Extremity,
it asked a crumb - of Me.

~ Emily Dickinson

Oh Emily, Emily... you are so right... Hope is that feeling, that breath of air, that bird singing in our hearts that never asks anything from us, but always, always gives.

My problem is not hearing the bird, but keeping it in my heart... it's like, I can hear the bird singing, and then for no reason, I'm under the bell jar, blocked from the bird, either that or he flew away and is bathing in someone else's bird bath.

Just as randomly as the bell jar descends, it rises, and I can feel the song in my soul again...

Sometimes life is just about holding on for dear life; it's just keeping your fingernails from ripping off. Sometimes life is just standing firm.

A few years ago, I almost drowned.... No, seriously... I was a camp counselor on Long Island for "Adventure Camp". We would take the kids to the Long Island Sound once a week and canoe or swim, and while the tide was strong, it wasn't so bad. But one week we went down to the South Shore and the current was so strong, that there were no less than 50 speedo-clad life guards wandering around.

Being the natural-born swimmer I considered myself to be, I kinda ignored the "only go in up to your knees" rule... I'm a strong swimmer, and Me and The Atlantic have always gotten along really well, and I often swim laps up and down the beach.

Well, The Atlantic was not feeling me, cause a giant wave crashed over my head, grabbed my feet out from under me and pulled me down to the bottom of the ocean floor, holding me there. I held my breath for God-only-knows how long... and when I finally felt the water let me go, I dragged myself up onto the shore (where were the life guards?!) and continued to let the water out of my lungs, spitting and coughing and choking for a good 10 minutes.

The weirdest thing was that even when I was under the water, unable to move, I didn't scream or freak out... I just closed my eyes and waited, feeling the water swirl around me, knowing that it would end... cause no wave lasts forever.

That little voice in my head, that little bird sang to me "It'll be over soon... it'll be ok... just feel the water." And in the middle of perhaps one of the most terrifying, dangerous moments of my life, all I could think of was the amazing way water, which can be so soft and luxurious, can be so powerful, so hard, and seemingly have a will of it's own...

Life can be so like that... the ocean, seemingly normal, mundane even, gorgeous at times, hot and blistery others... then rip tides pull you under, tsunamis crash into you and hurricanes tear you up...

My friend Eric once said "life is like a box of chocolates in which some of the chocolates have razors"...

Yet the little bird comes and sings, and we don't have to give up or give in... we can have peace, we can try our best to stand firm because no wave lasts forever... and so, I'll leave you with this song which was my anthem last week...