Yesterday, Skye, Nigel and I went for a long, long walk that took us from home in Tsurukawa to the very source of the Tsurumi River. It was something I’ve wanted to do for years now, but wasn’t entirely sure how to get up there. Over the last few days, I went for a walk that the GPS on my phone indicated was relatively close to my goal.

With that knowledge in mind, the kids and I took off with the intention of seeing the source.

It was a great walk. One of the things that we happened upon was a beautiful heron that was dozing on the side of the river. When we first moved to this area some 15 years ago, the Tsurumi River was considered by many to be one of the most polluted rivers in the country. Since then, there has been a concerted effort to clean up the river and reduce the influx of pollutants.

The reward has been a dramatic increase in sightings of various waterfowl. Certain herons are especially sensitive to water quality, so to see two of these beautiful birds in one day bodes well for the future. I, for one, am delighted.

The hike up to the source of the river took us about 3 hours. The kids were real troopers and we enjoyed each other’s company very much. We never got lost and we managed to intuit the correct direction to go for the last 30 minutes it would take us to get there. We could have easily gotten confused by the river forking, but we ended up going the right way.

Standing at source in the stillness of the night and watching the faint rippling of the water as the spring fed the pond, I was struck by the significance of synergy. How perseverance got us most of the way there, but then we had to trust in our intuition to guide us when our knowledge failed. How our enthusiasm encouraged and nurtured each other to keep going despite the tired legs and growing hunger.

Life is such a remarkable expression of knowing and intuition; of nurturing enthusiasm and perseverance in obtaining our goals. Last night’s adventure was a microcosm of life itself, played out by the three of us as we moved forward toward an unseen goal, giddy with excitement and the promise of fulfilment.

We were not disappointed.