"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience. " ~ Henry Miller Summer afternoons bring fond memories of days spent at my grandparent's cottage nestled in the woods, overlooking the lake. My mother would pack me, my three sisters and two brothers into our blue Ford station wagon for the hot, twelve mile ride to their home. The only air conditioner back then was having all the windows rolled down. The car barely stopped when out we'd rush down the fifty stairs leading to the water's edge. We dared one another to be the first to jump off the dock into the cold, dark water. Each year, one by one, we graduated from jumping off the side of the dock into shallow water, to taking the more serious plunge off the end of the dock into deeper, more unfamiliar territory. Some of us needed to take some practice runs; stopping just shy of the end of the dock before taking that final plunge. Others, would need lots of reassurance before diving into that seemingly bottomless lake water. After all, who could be sure what might be lurking just below the surface waiting to grab little legs just as they entered the water. Our imaginations would run wild with stories about snapping turtles and "huge" flesh eating fish waiting to take bites out of us. Those stories would prevent a few of us from taking the plunge into deeper waters for years to come. Finally, though, we would all eventually jump off the deep-end of the dock. We learned that it wasn't a big deal. Everyone who jumped into the deep water surfaced again. Those stories about things hiding in the murky water waiting to "get" us were just stories that prevented us from jumping out of our comfort zones into more unfamiliar territory that we would all learn to master. There really wasn't anything in the water to be feared. We just had to trust our intuition that the time was right for us to take the big plunge. Soon, the day came when we would see my mother standing at the end of the dock waving her arms frantically in the air; signaling us that we were out far enough. It's always good to know your limits, too. |
