Rise + Shine Summer
What’s on your summer bucket list for 2020? Wishing you peace and calm as we find ourselves on the edge of the unknown. I hope everyone finds a new shore and a new beginning knowing that there are blue skies and brighter days on the horizon. When I need a moment of centering calm, I find myself drawn to the water and lake, just as the morning breaks into the promise of a brand spanking (splashing!) new day. I think about the days I was back in our pink guest bedroom recovering from surgery. I can still feel the pull in my chest and the stiffness in my back. I wanted to feel less weak, to feel stronger in mind, body and spirit, so I started kayaking to work my upper body to strengthen and re-hab since I was unable to go to my gym safely being at higher risk after my comeback from cancer. I’ve been checking the weather forecasts nightly for waves of a foot or less when the water shimmers like a slivery slate glass, mirroring the sky and canvas of swirly cloud ribbons. There’s something soothing about walking up at 5:00 am, almost as if you’ve carved out a whole other day to yourself. My friends and I have been wanting to get out on the water to see the sunrise, so we made a pact to meet at Edgewater to do just that.
With masks, yoga pants, and coffee thermoses filled to the brim, we trekked to Edgewater where our family kayaks are stored. Yawning and donning bright life jackets and sunglasses, we carefully unloaded our kayaks onto the boat ramp and set off for adventure at 5:45am. Like a troop of naughty / nauti mermaids who snuck out before their parents (or kids!) woke up, we pushed off the dock’s edge feeling giddy and grateful with each slicing paddle stroke, pulling ourselves closer to the breeching sun stretching over the city skyline. We would take a minute to breathe in the cool morning air on our cheeks, and marvel at the moving sky and rippling waves as we ventured out to the stone slab-stacked break wall. Seeing the periwinkle pink blush blaze behind the sailboat masts, we felt fully alive and awake to the meet the moment. On more than one occasion as we lunged forward with caffeine-induced adrenaline, we would suddenly break into a cheer in exuberant unison – “Paddles UP!” – like a synchronized kayak brigade giggling as we floated into formation with hoisted paddles. I would take a minute and feel the waters cradle me in the kayak, gliding me forward into the promise of a new day and era. Maybe this is all we needed, a break in routine and a break from the weight of the world. There was a lightness and wonder that pulled us forward. Pretty soon, we would push ourselves to go faster and further. Down to the Flats? Don’t mind if I do! Fancy a paddle to the Rock Hall? Rock on, let’s GO! To the beach and bay? Yes, please! We found ourselves pausing in front of Whiskey Island for a quick granola bar, sunrise selfie, and moment of meditation glancing back at how far away the marina and shore was, and just how far we had come.
In the end, in spite of being in the middle of a deep and dark body of water, we didn’t think of what could go wrong. We only stayed open to possibility and feeling 100% in the moment. We had many laughs, the best one when a speedboat came up to us asking “Are you waiting for Steve?” Definitely felt like a joke or punchline! That was the morning when a swimmer was being escorted by two professional kayakers and the said speedboat as he swam to Euclid beach miles and miles away. Talk about early risers and seizing the day!
”if the lake sees the ocean, it will want big waves,
if the ocean sees the lake, it will want calm days...”
- mehet murat -
Some days, the waters were smooth going out and extra choppy coming back in. (“Did we go too far? Did we do too much?”) We would pass a sculling team and their captain directing strokes, along with the same father and son fishermen waving us hello and away from their invisible cast fishing lines along the bank wall dotted with sleeping seagulls. We’d return to the sail camp kids confidently skimming out to open waters through the break wall opening, ready for adventure, too.
There was something calming and invigorating about being in open lake and open sky when so much felt like it was closing in all around us in the world. Those days felt like endless sky and endless summer as we breathed in fresh optimism and cleansing energy as far as the eye could see. Past the lighthouse and visiting Canadian freighters and tall rusting industrial drawbridges at the mouth of the mighty, murky Cuyahoga River, I would suddenly feel small against the city backdrop and retro coast guard station. Maybe that was the point, to allow myself to wander and wonder, to feel lost in a good way – lost in the moment, but more than anything, free in that moment. Free to take a breath, to look up, and to see only what was immediately in front of me. To see how far I had come. To know that I would find my way back and that I trusted myself to go at my own pace, speed and direction. Isn’t that what all of us want and need right now, in the vast unknown that we find ourselves? We all want to know where the safe harbor is, but in the end, we are our own safe harbor, best guide and inner compass. None of us know the way forward through this. We only know that staying still and paddling in one place or in the same place as before is no longer an option. We are onto plan B, C, D…We are on our way to find a new way forward. Being on the lake, I‘m reminded that my surroundings are always changing, merging and moving – just like me. Just like you. I know that there is a stillness in the depths of the waters below that feels calming, comforting, and sacred. That positive life force energy is all around us, and within us, pulling us forward with each breath and morning. If we stay awake to wonder and wander to the unknown.