A Fish called NOSE

Thanks Nancie for the words of support. I wrote them in my notebook for nighttime reading and reflection.

We are traveling from Vienna (Wien) to Mureck, Austria by train on the 31st of May. All of our gear must go with us. That is the pits and, it can be dangerous having to manipulate around it. A good example is when we were coming home from the Danube River swim and waiting for the train to stop in Frankfurt. Standing at the exit door of the train, I tripped over a dry bag and started to fall. Grabbing hold of the automatic door handle inbetween cars for support, it opened and totally threw me off balance. I screamed, a sound from the dictionary of the Universal Language. The woman waiting by the opposite exit door turned to help me and we were both pulled down. We looked like an international version of Abbott and Costello. Kelsey laughed first and LOUDLY, but the woman and I laughed the longest! It was one of those great moments of laughter that are accompanied by sequels just as intense. As the train came into the station, we exchanged glances, laughed one more time and went in opposite directions. I suppose there can be positive memories created from hauling fifty pounds of gear.

Once in Mureck, we will be taken to our hotel for a rest before we meet with people curious to "Know who Mimi is." Hey, I am fifty(one)and wondering who I am. It is hard to tell when I am still wet from my prefifty cocoon. The next day, we begin the swim. The Austrians are presenting me with a fish named NOSE to carry with me to Croatia. Once there, I am to present NOSE to them. NOSE is not the real fish but symbolic of the real one. This fish is made from driftwood. It sounds slendiferous, but I wonder how big NOSE is. At first consideration I assumed NOSE was a small fish that will fit in my hand, but what if he isn't? What if he is really big and as I go down river he soaks up water and ends up weighing a ton? What if he starts as a float and ends up as a weight? Maybe I'll tie him to the kajak. OH, I just had a flashback of Dr. Suess's "Fish Out of Water." I start out with this little tiny fish and have this HUGE fish by the time I reach Croatia. OK, time to refocus.

International River Network gave me a book to read on the negative effects of dams. It is technical, but interesting. I've called IRN a few times for questions, but they always seem curt and patronizing. Maybe they are too busy to be friendly and openly share information, but I cannot help wondering if they are irritated by TVA and my Tennessee River swim. At the time of the Tennessee River swim, I was concerned about other environmental influences polluting our waterways and wanted to send a message of personal responsibility for water quality. It was not a swim to bash companies and corporations. Afterall, don't we the people make up those companies and corporations? My experiences with TVA personnel were all positive. They placed no restrictions on my voice or actions. The majority of the employees I spent time with were highly conscious of the river's environmental concerns and did considerably more than the average person towards perserving the river. It is important to understand that there are two sides to TVA, the environmental side and the power side, befitting titles. I worked with the environmental side. Perhaps it is a tale of two cities...the best and the worst. Whatever, the dams are in place, and they are not building more. Hopefully the two keep everything in balance.

As we leave for the Mur/Drau swim, it is ridiculous for me to believe the world can be perfect. I don't expect it. A quote from my first year on the Tennessee River read: "5% pushes for good and 5% pushes for bad. The world situation depends on who is pushing the hardest." Well, I believe the world is badly out of balance, and the only way I know to correct it is to push harder. If that doesn't work, I will push even harder. I do not give myself a choice.

"Random acts of kindness" is not a figurative phrase.

"God bless us, everyone!" mimi