me and my moment with the hood...

I'm gonna guess you're thinking the same thing I was thinking when I saw this old metal car hood jammed into these trees along the creek bank. I was hiking along and had just broke through the tree line and stepped out onto the edge of the bank when I looked downstream and saw this image.

"Really?" I thought to myself. "A car hood, out here? Common!"

In my accumulation of outdoor experiences there's usually beer cans, rubber tires, some chunk a metal something, plastic bags, water bottles and every other sort of man-made litter you could imagine lying around out in the woods.
But this time it sorta jared me into reality. (Sorta like the sound the Road-Runner makes in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons when he stops...foooaaaannnng) Anyway, once I got over my initial shock of what seeing this metal hood did in disrupting my serenity (I stood there and looked at this thing for what seemed like ten minutes.) My concluding thought in that moment was, "Wow, this creek must have really been rushing fast and high for this hood to get lodged here like this."

Finally I stepped past it and continued my rock-hopping-adventure along the creek bank...and proceeded to forget about it. About 45 minutes later on my return trip back up stream, there was the hood again in all its glory. But this time...it hit me. Hmmm, that hood is sorta like life and like me.

I'm floating along life's stream digging the flow and the view and the experience and then I bump into this rock, and that rock and then get stuck on this tree in this place. Then this huge flow of water comes at me and jams me into this place where I stay with no ability of my own to move...and simply have to wait it out until the next big rush of water comes and lifts me up and out to float to the next.

I've been there, many times. Jammed into a bunch of trees and rocks. Unhappy that I can't move. Grouchy that my surroundings have grown stale. Until I let go, and simply appreciate it for what it is. No amount of struggle or complaint is going to change it. I simply have to resolve
to appreciate where I am and enjoy the moment. Because until I can appreciate where I am and be grateful...I'm not going anywhere. Life has this special way of jamming us in so tight that no amount of wiggling will set us free. We need to be here for some reason.

There's much to be learned jammed up in here, would I just look and listen and learn. And when I realize this and simple sit still and learn, that's when it happens. I learn what it is I'm supposed to learn and don't even realize it...and then when I least expect it, that's when the rising river comes. That's when change comes...and poof...when I'm not looking for change anymore
that's when I'm lifted up and I float on down stream again...to enjoy life's next adventure.
(Ironically, when I'm unstuck and floating down stream again I look back and say, "But wait, I
was comfortable there, I liked it there, I had friends there and etc etc." Let it go Rache, celebrate what was and embrace the thrill of knowing new experiences await you, likely greater than the ones you just had, once you relaxed enough to enjoy them.)

Reminds me too that I once realized that if I can't be thankful and appreciate where I am right
now in this moment, then I'm shaking my fist at life and ultimately slapping life in the face
for somehow giving me what I'd asked for in the first place.

Change is inevitable. Permanence? I'm not sure that exists. ...and then I hear in the distance, be careful what you wish for...and then, be grateful for where you are.

Not such a bad thing that metal hood I saw there by the creek.