Beth Lapin

January 27, 2017

While I am waiting for my daughter’s appointment to begin, I notice a box of Earth Magic Oracle cards (Steven D. Farmer) and begin to fiddle with the deck. I shuffle and move the cards around and, eventually, one of them flies out of the pile onto my lap. I pick it up: RIVER, movement. My daughter is called into her appointment and I head out to the local state park, where I usually go for the hour and a half that she’s busy. If I’d had any hesitations in walking on this windy, cold day, they were quashed by the fortuitous oracle card; the park covers hundreds of acres that include a scenic river.

I walk the direct route to the new boat launch, all the while singing river songs. “River, take me along” (Bill Staines), “I was born by the river” (Sam Cooke), and finally…