What waits on the other side of 50? I knew I wanted to welcome this milestone year with a few intentional practices. Inspired by Ursula K. LeGuin’s line, “follow the river into silence” I created a neighborhood pilgrimage.
I spent the 100 days before my birthday going to the water. I live near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Their two blues run through my poems. I took walks along the bluff, crossed bridges over the water, and went down to the river’s edge.
I’m not sure that any questions were answered. If anything, my experience was more like this lovely Robert Lax poem:
But there’s a kind of wisdom that comes simply in the accumulation of days and the turn of the seasons.
This sounds very Charlotte Mason, returning regularly to the same nature spot to observe changes through the seasons and build a connection to the place.
Happy birthday! That sounds like a lovely way to usher in a new decade.