Releasing Ceremony

One of my fears is running out of gas in a lonely place and having to walk for miles to the nearest gas station, alone on a deserted road.  I threw an oily rag in the trash after checking the oil when I gassed up on my way to the mountain.  My dad use to say to me when I first started driving to always have a full tank of gas.  I was anticipating my trip to the river near Search Mont in Canada.

The rays of sun cascaded through the tall pine trees onto the smooth rock surfaces.  I stared at the river as I planned to rid myself of many of the problems that arose during the past year.  One of my fall rituals involve a releasing ceremony.  My list wasn’t as long as it was the year before.  It has been a great year with many happy memories. I grasped the rail as I recited all the things I wanted to release to the power of the river.  Water is very powerful. The mountain air was crisp and refreshing.  I looked far into the distance at a large spruce tree, swaying majestically in the wind.  This was the only spruce tree I could see surrounded by tall red pine trees.  I thought that unusual.

My feet were planted firmly on the rocky soil as I stared with awe at my own face in the water.  I looked ten years younger.  I usually look younger when I perform this ritual.  I feel as if there was a ton of weight released from my shoulders. 

I drank pure mountain river water from my canteen.  To the rear of me I heard rustling.  I saw a rabbit hopping off when I looked towards the sound.  My husband Don decided to let me go to the river by myself this year with good reason.  We discussed our year together and decided to renegotiate our marriage contract.  We have been together for almost two decades.  It’s amazing that we are more in love than ever before.  Don wanted to hold his own private ritual to give thanks for our relationship and all the other blessings in our lives.  I am often reminded that I am an us on so many occasions.

Dusk was quickly approaching, the time was six o’clock and I decided to go back to my car and head for home. I have to get back to my family and friends and join the real world soon.  I took a couple of weeks off to gather my thoughts about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  I just finished writing my first book and started working on my second manuscript.  I was trying to decide if I should take a break from writing and explore the world of grants and proposals to seek financial support for my ventures. I am marketing the first book and writing the second. I teach a class at a local college to earn some spending money and I volunteer at a local animal shelter. What can I say, I love animals of all shapes and sizes. Spending time with them is one way I fill my tank. These last two weeks have been a blessing. Sometimes I need to take a break from all of life’s choices. 

Note:  A challenge to all writers to play a Scrabble game or an Upwords gams with friends and family and the words you come up with use in a short story or poem.  The words in bold print were the words I came up with in a Scrabble game.  It's fun.  See what you can come up with, I dare you.