Grabbing the Line

A perimeter line is the rope that surrounds the perimeter of a raft. It creates a secure line for adventurers who fall out of the raft. When a swimmer has a grasp of the perimeter line, their chances of getting back in the raft quickly are much greater.

I’m a single mom. I’m a writer, wilderness advocate, good friend, amazing lover and general bad ass when needed. But mostly, I’m a mom. I’m the one who keeps the perimeter line strong and within reach for my kid, my family, my friends, even my dogs. I’m not so good at grabbing it myself, but that’s a story for another time.

I recently participated in a river rafting writing retreat. My pre-trip homework was to write a personal essay. For someone who has only written either fiction or features about other people, the concept of writing about myself made me, well… uncomfortable. I only had a week to come up with something and every time I tried, I was interrupted by my teenage son. Bless his heart, as it was his angst over leaving on an 11-day Outward Bound trip that tripped the personal narrative wire in my brain.

I intend to fill this blog with narratives about wilderness, love and gender. Rather than bore you to tears with a verbose explanation for this theme, I’ll instead post the narrative I wrote in two days time for that writing retreat. You see, there’s a visceral connection between our natural world and the way we manage our lives. Sometimes its obvious, but most of the time we have to find that place of solitude where we can fill our heads with the sounds of the rushing river, the wind in the trees, the lapping of the waves on the shore, in order to see those connections, find our perimeter line and hold on.