Cycle of Friends

The end is near; we who work on the river know the cycle. School has started and the river traffic will dwindle. Shortly the buzz of the occasional barge will be co-mingled with the frosty mornings and the falling leaves. Commercial boats will either begin their trek south or abruptly tie up for the winter. Quiet will begin, leaving us, the last of the river workers to listen to her ice. This “still” period reminds me of who she was before and in many ways still is, powerful and living. A river not a plaything or a highway for our grain and scrap metal.

Abruptly as the cycle started it will end at the same door where it all began. For me the whole process of saying goodbye to the river has evolved into a sacred moment, never the same but always sweet and powerful. A moment shared and left loosely between friends.