IT'S BEEN SO LONG since I've gotten away on a vacation that I almost forget what it's like---not because we're not good at getting away, taking time off, vacationing, etc., but, because of my use, misuse, and abuse, losing my very good job of 25 years, having to start over with entry level positions and pay, now, both my wife and I, intense summer internship, waiting to get enough time in to take off---it was impossible to get away.....But, NOW IT'S TIME.....thank you Lord.
Now it's time to go North and follow Lake Superior to a number of campsites.....DON'T JUST DO SOMETHING, STAND THERE!!! Or, sit there, or walk or whatever. But it was not easy to get this time, guard this time, take this time, and just do it, knowing that we were on the edge, "crispy around the edges." It's so much like recovery, just doing it, guarding those meeting times, sponsor times, fellowship / round up / picnic times--JUST DO IT!!
We HAVE to do it, there's no choice...it's a matter of life and death...or is it life, or prison, institutions and death....really, no matter how we slice the cake, that's it....We know that's it because of the hundreds and hundreds of witnesses and stories and sharing and heart-felt-truths deeply expressed that our program is priority.......One person mentioned in a meeting when another was bold and strong and honest enough to say they "Slipped," that the word S.L.I.P. stands for "Sobriety Losing It's Priority.............
As we get ready to head north along Lake Superior, 10% of the world's fresh water, I can hear Gordon Lightfoot's song in my head and heart about that same lake..........peace, Ken/prodigalreturned:
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.
The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind
When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.
The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.
© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.
Tags: Seize The Day Getting Away Taking Time Off ReflectionContemplation
