Like a river to the sea....

There is something hypnotic about the sea. You can spend hours just watching her capriciousness, suddenly still, almost menacing; sometimes serene; lashing out in fury; playful and joyous; dark and grim; listless and heavy; contemplative and distant; calming; fierce; unpredictable. I know because I did. For the greater part of my formative years. Hours on end, just watching. Her moods reflecting mine. Nothing fixed my world better than time spent by her side, in the middle of the night, undisturbed by the thumping crowds, completely alone (barring the occasional plainclothes cop threatening to lock you or even worse, call your folks). Or with cohorts, the meaning of life more poignant as you shared your thoughts and dreams as you watched her. Your soul as one with hers.
Life on the other hand, it occurs to me, is more like the mighty Brahmaputra (or any other river, I just like to say Brahmaputra...), an incredible journey, moulded by time and the elements as it meanders through, nurturing, sustaining, destroying...an inevitability about it's flow (do I not see rivers as automatic hers because they have masculine names??) as it inexorably twines itself around the lives of those who embrace it. As do we. The journey is what makes us who we are, our experiences altering our perceptions, wisdom allowing us a more sweeping passage through the unpredictability, the unexpectedness of what we find on our way both hurting and healing, the sharply delineated black and white of youth giving way to a hazy palette of colours.
I can trace back my life, and see how it's changed me, shaped me, made me so much more than I was, yet it still manages to surprise me. The direction it takes, just when you think you've finally seen it all, suddenly, you're a four year old again, enthralled by something you're feeling for the first time. Full circle? I am the sea to begin with, before I flow through this land, richer for the journey, to finally come to rest where all journeys must end.
My journey is my own. But it is those I meander with, even if it be a few steps, that bring it meaning.