But Wait!

By Steve Geiger

Yes, it’s the adventure, the journey getting there (years for some of us!), the spray-in-your-face “Welcome to the Great Outdoors” boat ride to the island in the forested, mountainous wilderness surrounded by water. Yes, it’s the first glimpse of the camp, just ahead, the family camaraderie, the shared goal of building something, the characters who dwell in these lands, the vacation from our everyday work and responsibilities. Yes, it’s the bear spray and bear bells (and those private walks to the woods)! And yes, it’s Jon’s gift to us all.
Yes to all that.
But wait.

Breathe it all in for sure; join in and get busy! There’s certainly a lot to do. But don’t forget to take a few moments and...step aside and notice.
Discover an extraordinary stillness and calm.
Before the morning, before the earliest coffee drinkers rattling around the kitchen, firing up the stove to put the kettle on. Before the sausages sizzling in the iron pan.
Walk quietly to the water’s edge. Sit on a rock.
Night’s blanketing fog gives way to emerging light over the still water. So calm, so very, very quiet. Not the almost-quiet in our daily lives back home, filled in by ambient noise, but the essential quiet of nature before it wakes up - the background upon which all else is heard. It’s the absence of noise, rarely experienced.
Yes, it’s that striking!
Sit and stare and feel the calm. Now something is moving, barely, on the water not far off the shore: that’s a heron standing still - watching, waiting. See it? And over there, perched high on a tree, is that a bald eagle sitting still as well? Two silent, magnificent creatures in the muted gray morning watercolor before me. And now, yes, a third... a seal breaks the water’s surface with a graceful arc and then slips back under. Three beautiful creatures... I’m humbled to be in their presence. Nature is waking up.
Back up there the camp stirs. Sausages need to be eaten!
After.
After the day: after the projects start and the hammers swing and the expeditions set off. The banter begins: the planning, assigning, jesting, regaling. Things get built. Things get cut down. Jon’s in charge!
After the night: after the dinner cooked over the campfire, after the dishes are done and we all sit around the fire watching the daylight recede and darkness take over. More jesting, regaling, planning. Another good day on the island.
After all that, but before bed, slip away and take a walk to the dock. Go to the end. Lie down on your back (bring a pillow!). Stare into the starry skies. Watch. Listen.
Silence again.
The sky is vaster and brighter out here. Yes, so dark but so bright! And quiet, like the morning, but now the water is sleeping, and the wildlife too. Dark, dark blue sky and the stars brighter than you’ve ever seen. The entire heavens above: stars, stars, stars, constellations, planets, milky this way milky that way! Light years away. Millions of light years! Beyond comprehension; eternity right there for all to see. Except no one is here but you.
Wait! Over there...that one, did you see it? Up to the right, flashing across like lightning, but contained in a single trail of light. Oh! Another one! Over there now, did you see that one? Nature sleeps. Night awakens.
Lights on, really on!
Then, back to the camp, into your sleeping bag. Lights off, and off to sleep!
Off to sleep?
(the snoring begins!)
***Note: the author wishes to record for posterity three island firsts:
1. First bone fracture in the service of building infrastructure (definitely Jon’s fault)
2. First unassisted swim there-and-back to No-Name island (Don’t these get named for the first person to “conquer”?)
3. First seaplane departure from Lagoon Cove back to Seattle (OK, also first to skip out on camp breakdown!)

Before the morning, and after the day, after the night, escape to the water’s edge: alone.