Illlusion

It was so gorgeous today I wanted to cry at having to leave tomorrow.

Of course there were many things to do getting ready to leave the next morning, but I made time to get outside and savor the day as much as I could. And so I came to the South Anna River, just down the road from my house. Parking at an old bridge, and walking through the spindly weeds of poison ivy and wild flowers overflowing along the river bank. Of course I took my fishing rod.

I waded in the water and explored rivulets and deep pools casting my line out to temp smallmouth bass and pumpkin seed. Always a few bites and tugs, but they are just small on this river. An old Civil War skirmish was fought for the ruined foundations of the previous bridge here, now crumbling under the weight of huge sycamores pushing through the stone cracks, eroding away.

My heart is all a'flutter at having to go, it is always this way for me. And so I came here to to try to regain some peace and composure where things always make perfect sense to me. I climbed amongst old driftwood and flotsam washed from previous floods and submerged myself slowly, up to my shoulders in the deep pools with the shine of the sun reflecting on the bottom of my chin.

I said a hopeful private prayer and looked thoughtfully at everything around me to remember it well, before bidding a reluctant...

Farewell.