Spiritual Tube Riding
Bruce Lee once said “consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance
to mankind.”
A SPIRITUAL TUBE RIDE
A few years ago on the day we buried my Grandmother; I had an experience that at the time verged on the mystical. I was just sixteen and losing her was very difficult for me. I adored her. She was wonderfully stereotypical. She had been raised on a farm in rural Oklahoma and tempered by the depression. She was strong, capable and full of love. I remember her in faded cotton dresses, always clean and well pressed – and her aprons. She had one long apron for around the house and a couple of “nice” ones to wear in town when she went shopping or ran errands. About the only time she didn’t wear an apron was went she went to church. If you have ever seen the movie, “Grapes of Wrath” and you remember Grandma Joad then you have an idea of what my Grandmother was like.
On summer afternoons she used to set a long table outside under the trees. It would be piled high with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and homemade apple pie,
sitting on a red and white checked tablecloth, and flanked by big pitchers of ice cold Lipton tea. She could sew anything, she could grow anything and she could heal any wound. She was perfect and we all loved her. Losing Grandpa only the year before, and now Grandma, left all of us devastated. I couldn’t believe they were both gone.
After the funeral I headed to the beach. It had been a rough day and I needed to be alone. All I wanted was paddle out and forget for awhile. Surfing helps do that sometimes.
Because concentration is