ndr, but you might like it anyways

Todd Duncan Tennyson

Well-known member
i walked along the tiny creek today
i am there most days

i like to walk under the towering madrone
along the alders and the cedars
i have to put one foot in front of the other when I am there

sometimes the most basic steps (even just the physical ones)
get us up and out and away
maybe that is my "meditation" for lack of a better term


i like to look into the water and dream a little
get lost in the reflections

looking for shapes and motion
feeling the light reflect up and into me
over me
and out of the deep cold dark valley
carved into the permanence of the watershed I came from

i like the aspect of focusing on not having to focus on anything
just to observe nature

the fish run here
nobody used to believe me when i was a kid and I'd tell them that there were fish in there

but i knew it
i'd seen it with my own eyes

they are still here today
the very last of the fighting few

the ones that made it to the very end
past hungry birds
down through diversions
past hungry snapping creatures from above and below
and into the crashing seas
i have the greatest respect and admiration for them

years spent fighting and learning and growing
years waiting to return to their home

they left by the thousands
blown out into seemingly impossible odds

lost and crushed and battered
consumed and hardened by adversity

to make that one last journey back to the creek
just one last time

many were lost along the way


as I walked along, I noticed a solitary summer run steelhead holding in the soft water
he made it back

i continued my walk and noticed a couple of older fellows walking along

one of em was real old, he had a ski pole hiking stick in each hand
plodding along slowly and steadily

he had on a purpleish jacket
as i approached them i could make out what it said

it said Purple heart recipient
honored veteran
wounded in combat


I quickened my steps and approached the men

i said, "excuse me fellows" and they turned around to meet me

I said "I noticed your jacket and wanted to say thank you for your service and your sacrifice"
i shook the old mans hand.

both of the men smiled and nodded

He must have been in his mid 90's
and the fellow with him looked just like a younger version of him
so I am assuming it was his son probably in his mid 70's

I asked "are you having a good walk?"
and we chatted a moment about the park
and how any day was a good day near that creek
and parted

i continued my walk and thought about them
i'd imagined that older fellow was a bout 18 during WW2 and may have been there

may have been in Korea

may have even been in Viet Nam

pulled out of his life
away from his sweetheart
away from his ambitions and dreams to be thrown into a war

i have not been in war
but i can only imagine that it is horrific and nightmarish

as I walked along i realized that the old man was the lone surviving steelhead
he'd survived it all and he'd finally come back home

i have the greatest respect and admiration for them
 
Thanks for posting this. Makes me think of the last couple years taking my grandfather fishing. He could no longer see to rig his own rod but if I put him in his normal spots along the creek and handed him the rod, his bait always landed just where it always had. He could still see even if it was just in his memory.
 
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