A couple weeks ago, my husband, Garen, was hiking with a co-worker. They were out in a distant region of the state. The hiking paths were amazing, yet nearly empty. Their goal was to rest, swim, and eat near a crystalline lake.
When they arrived, they were surprised to find two teenage boys, about the age of seniors in high school, solidly camped by the lake. What's more the boys were standing in the cold, clear water, casting lines and waiting for a bite. The location of this glorious lake had no cell service. No hotspots worked either. Emergency phones maybe, but nothing where a person could get lost surfing their phone, and miss the resplendent beauty surrounding them.
Garen and his friend marveled at the teens camp. They were set for a multi-day stay. They had packed-in every item .There were no car access roads or parking lots. As the two men ate, they both commented on how life renewing it was to see two boys out fishing and camping. The boys, just a few yards away, were fully focused on catching their dinner. When Garen arrived home, he reiterated his observations to me, then added, "Things might be more right in the world then we assume."
Life Is Better Than We Assume
Tomorrow, I leave on a little expedition myself. I am heading back to Scotland to watch my middle child walk in her cancelled graduation ceremony from two years ago. You may recall she was a grad student at the University of Glasgow. When the pandemic hit, she was unable to come home because she had contracted Covid. She survived. She remained as a nearly solitary student. Around her was a closed campus and equally closed world. With the ceremony cancelled, she held her own private celebration before trekking back to the U.S. to begin the months long battle and frustration with unemployment.
Her fortunes have changed. She's helping blind people see art, science, and life in ways they hadn't before. The two years from an unceremonious degree receipt are long past. We board planes headed for an event we never thought we'd see. And she never expected to experience. She's gone fishing to improve the world. As my husband said, "Things may be more right in the world than we assume."
I will be back in three weeks. Until then, make sure you go fishing in whatever form works for you. "Make things more right in the world than we assume."
Photo attribution - Norman Rockwell, "Going Fishing" 1958.
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