SIT A SPELL

If I walked away from this place with a million bucks and a yellow, 4-WS ’88 Prelude, the most valuable thing I’d take with me is the ability to sit still.

By nature I run, even from the car to the grocery store. I love to run. In the past, I’ve been busy from sunup to sunset, like those tourists who bolt from the car, run to the rim of the Grand Canyon, look down, and run back to the car. “Check off the Grand Canyon, Evelyn!” That’s how most of us travel and sadly, how we live.

Sitting in my kayak for hours on end, I’ve learned to sit still and let  the world come to me. It brings me sights, sounds, and experiences that I would have trampled if I were still on the move.

Look a little closer, sit a little longer.

I had looked at the tangle of willow trees on the far bank of our pond for days and not seen anything unusual. But I looked one more time, and this time a large bird was scurrying along the shore, partially hidden. I saw just enough to make me say out loud, “That! is! a! penguin!” Seeing penguins is one of the Diagnostic Criteria for Commitment in Iowa County. That evening, I risked mentioning the sighting to my husband. He’s been down this road a few times. He smiled.

The Ioway Penguin

 You know those color blindness tests in which a hidden object emerges as you pay more attention? Well, for the record, when a Green Heron squats close to the ground, subsuming her long legs, she is indeed shaped a lot like a penguin. How many Greenies had I paddled by over the years as I kayaked? If I hadn’t been sitting still, an entire world would have remained unknown to me.

Look a little closer,  sit a little longer.

If you row up to a row of painted turtles a log, they will bail overboard one by one. If you cruise the pond slowly day after day and coast up to them so slowly you’re barely moving, they will give you the benefit of the doubt. And if you do this all summer? They may allow you to place a hand on their shell.

Look a little closer,  sit a little longer.

I have one particular memento that reminds me to sit still, be patient, and pay attention. It was just another bullfrog photo, but I was playing around and zoomed in on the eye. I hoped to see some interesting details––little froggie rods and cones, perhaps. What I saw was––me! In my kayak taking his picture. Reflected in his eye.

Kayaker in a frog's eye

Frog-eye cheat sheet

 I looked back at other old pictures, and there I was in quite a few eyes. Then my husband looked at my favorite photo of our grandson. Wallah! Reflected in his big, blue eye was the photographer, his Nonna.

Look and look again. You might see a penguin or get a frog’s eye view of yourself. But first you will have to

Look a little closer, sit a little longer.