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Cooling Our Feet In the Mountain Stream

   Hey, everyone. My wife and I were out for a road trip yesterday. We had some business to attend to, but since the area was scenic, we stopped at a park and walked along a creek, looking for tracks. We found the tracks of a wolf, or a very large dog, in the sand and of course some people tracks. We sat on a big flat rock, took our shoes off,  and soaked our hot and tired feet. The mountain water was definitely cool and refreshing. Usually, the water is just ripping through this gorge, but the recent dry weather has turned a raging river into a stream. Still, it was fun. It has been years since Carley and I did this. Too long, really.
    As we sat, we remembered bringing our boys here when they were little. We allowed them to soak their feet and wade in some of the quiet pools. The water is so clear that it can be deceptively deep. You can step off into a place that is over your head, so we had to hold their hands as they played. They usually had a little bucket and shovel that we'd bought them in the dollar store. At the time, I was a youngster with the worries of a little family...and the world, on my shoulders. These troubles prevented me from enjoying my family as much as I could have otherwise. Likewise, they made me less kind and patient than I could have been. All in all, however, it was okay. Looking back now, they were certainly good years. As I sat on the rock next to my wife, I could almost feel those chubby little hands of my sons holding onto mine as they walked over the slippery stones.
    Later, Carley and I put our shoes on and walked in the water, just relaxing and being lazy. As we started to leave, I noticed some tiny trout, so small that I almost missed seeing them, swimming in the shadow of the rocks. Following their movement, I noticed a penny, bright and shining at the bottom of the water. Doubtless someone had made a wish and cast the coin there. I took a moment to meditate on what might have been their wish, and their circumstances.
1) It might have been a teen couple, wishing they could be married.
2) It might have been a married couple, wishing for a home, a child of their own or a good job.
3) It could have been an elderly person, wishing for physical vigor or the return of their son from the war.
4) It may have been a guy who wanted to become a writer.
5) It could have been an elderly woman, wishing that her dead husband would speak to her heart and be her's again in that world to come.
6) Maybe it was none of these things. Just the whim of a person, who was tired of carrying a shiny piece of metal that is almost worthless in this day and age. At any rate, I must trust the advice of the coin when it comes to life, past and future, "In God We Trust".
      I took Carley's hand and helped her over the rocks as we went back to our truck. "At least now," I mused, "We have a decent vehicle, rather than all those old junkers we used to drive." With that thought, I started the truck and pulled away on the journey, back to the green retreat.
    I'm CE Wills.
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