Regattas require EARLY morning starts. E.A.R.L.Y---like the Referees, coaches, and cox'ns meeting is usually in the ballpark of 6:30 a.m. So getting up, getting dressed, getting there means you're up early. EARLY.
Today was that first bite of what is to come in our weather...no sun, winds in excess of 15 mph and rain. It may not sound like much but any winds over about 5 mph start to get choppy and at that level usually means whitecapping. And if you think that is fun in a boat that weighs about what an average man does and carrying 8 (or 4) people trying to fight the river, guess again. Then picture standing on shore in the rain recording times, or in a launch boat in the rain following the racing shells, or on the dock checking boat equipment and bow numbers. WAAAAAHHHH, call the waaaaaambulance and take me away, boo hoo.
And in the cold. And rain.
Why did I want to do this?
I asked myself that over and over as I rode in the launch boat in the rain coming down hard enough to drip steadily off the bill of my cap onto my lap. Moving quickly up the Mississippi into the wind to get to my place at the starting line, all I could think about was that it was going to be a very long morning. It was only 7:30 and it already felt like I had been out there forever. The last race went off at noon, could I last so uncomfortable?
Hugging myself tight I looked along the banks of the river and noticed that with the rain and wind of the previous several days, the trees had lost their beauty and the leaves had now formed a thick carpet of color on the ground. Bare branches swaying told of winter coming and that even the fall was behind us now for the most part. The water now even looked cold and ready to freeze.
And I saw a blue plastic tarp in the woods on shore. A fleeting thought made me wonder who had been careless enough to let it become trash up on the shore and then I saw it.
The tarp moved in an odd way. Not the wind blowing it. Odd...I could not figure it out.
And then I realized it before I saw it in reality. A person was under the tarp. Someone was under there for protection from the elements. My heart broke.
I don't know if it was a man or woman. I don't know their age or race or background. But I know it was a human being that had nothing more than the side of the river and a blue tarp. Hopefully some blankets, a coat, what else? My heart broke again. What had led them to a life or even a day like this where they existed on the cold wet ground just up from the river with a tarp to cover them?
I stood there waiting for the first of the racers to row to the start and thought of many things...
I woke up this morning like every morning. In a warm, queen size bed with two pillows under my head and another two on the floor that I put on the bed for decoration. One is especially fit for your neck to be ergonomically comfortable. Under me are smooth sheets that feel like a wrapper of comfort on cold days to keep me warm and on warm nights to sooth me with their cool cotton. Under those sheets is a mattress cover with a pillow top that I found on some outlet website especially made to cover deep mattresses and cushion your sleep. It feels like you are sleeping on a cloud. A cloud on top of a mattress and box springs...an item that so very many of us take for granted. I lay my head on those two pillows to rest; one is foam and one feather. I am covered in a top sheet and on top of that two quilts.
Quilts. I have come to have a "collection" of several and I rotate them in and out when I want a change of decor in our bedroom. I have them in pairs that coordinate, one on top, one under that and folded from the top to show the beautiful patterns that go in the room. I just did change them out and the quilt underneath right now shows beautiful purple flowers on the bottom and on the top purple and white and pale green stripes. The top quilt shows purple violets in bunches on a white background with lime green and darker green leaves. It's trimmed with a striped ruffle all the way around of the purple and white and green. Many mornings I wake up, pull those quilts up and finger the ruffle around the edge with love knowing that violets were my mother, grandmother, and aunt's favorite flowers and one of mine. And the pillow coverings match the top quilt to make the bed so beautiful.
Our room is painted the color of a pale key lime pie. It is bright and tropical and in the summer is celebratory of the beautiful warm weather we have and in the winter reminds us of places at the beach we love to go and the cheery locations that embrace this color in their own decorating schemes.
Often I am restless in the night or the hubs is. We have two other bedrooms to go to if we want to. They also have warm sheets and blankets and have walls and pictures that are a beautiful environment we love Or there is an enormous couch in the den to escape restless legs or snoring. One of three couches in the house and another in the loft above the 2nd garage.
I am able to get out of that warm paradise, put my feet on plush carpeting and put on a bathrobe that is warm and fuzzy and fluffy over my night shirt that I got for Christmas from Victoria's Secret one year. I walk in comfort downstairs to a warm kitchen stocked with food and am able to have a warm cup of coffee and sit with the hubs (most mornings) and my pups and watch the news on a flat screen TV that gets about 200 channels.
I am able to go to one of 3 bathrooms to answer the morning call of nature, two of which I can shower/bathe in hot water with soap, brush my teeth. I have lotions to soothe my skin, I have coconut and sesame oil to put on in the winter to do the same.
I am able to wake in the morning in comfort, in cheer, in warmth and roll over in my own bed and look into the woods out my back window into my garden. I wake to blessings and am wrapped in the privilege of laying there with all of those things.
I am able to do laundry in a washer and dryer. If I need to leave the house I have the choice of two cars to transport me. I am able to buy food at the grocery store for meals without worry, I am able to dress in lovely and professional clothing to go to my client sites. I have technology to do my work and make our lives easier.
What do we all have that we take for granted? Every. Single. Moment.
Things that the person under the blue tarp on the Mississippi does not have.
To feel so blessed yet so helpless and insignificant watching from a boat to officiate a sport that is often of the affluent seeing someone who has so little.
We donate significantly and volunteer often and contribute of ourselves in ways that typically we feel is not only the right thing to do but is "enough." Is it?
Sometimes it is. Sometimes there needs to be more I think...
But I don't know what because I feel helpless thinking about that blue tarp. If I had to try and find my way back I would be lost...I didn't know the area we were in well enough. And what would I do if I found them that would be "enough?" Would I wound their pride or would I help? Would I even know where to begin or would be hurting the person somehow? My heart hurts...what is the right thing to do?
I'm lost.
So at least for tonight I will light my candle in the den that I have there for Archangel Michael. Michael the Protector. And I will simply ask him to help me and answer my prayer to protect that person and bring that person to goodness, light and safety. And I have one to Archangel Raphael too. Can't hurt.
It seems so small just praying for them.
But...
What if we all took 3 minutes to pray for those people that are in situations like the blue tarp, whether they were/are in or out of their control? One prayer. Three minutes. Specifically asking for help for those suffering and in need...
I'm going to try. Because if I am this blessed, it is the least I can do in return at this moment. I will figure out the rest along the way.
Sally, have you read Praying for Strangers by River Jordan?
ReplyDeleteno but just put it on my Amazon list for Santa :)
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