We are returning. The river which governed our lives is now a shared memory which will weave itself into our other lives.
I feel a sadness of completion, but it is clear that this part of the cycle is over. Each of us will return to our separate identities floating in the larger culture. For these 21 days we have faced the world as a family, a tribelet, a band who met the tasks of survival together.
We have done well. We met the challenges of the rapids through cooperation and communication. We met the tasks of food preparation and survival in a desert environment through hard work as part of a mutually supportive team effort. Our great sense of humor kept us fluid and easy which helped us through the difficult moments of stress. And finally, through these labors of love we were able to come to feel the powerful effects of this place called Grand canyon, whose life is intertwined with the life of the great river Rio Colorado (just as our lives were intertwined with that river, so we can claim to be kin, cousins, of that place.
We are all bound together on this planet. We share this place with the four-leggeds, the flyers, the crawlers, and the swimmers, as well as the rocks, rivers, and thunder. To have experienced this place of timeless interrelatedness in the company of such a team is a phenomenal gift. Thank you.
Thank you Great Spirit , for all your creation. Thank you for rivers and canyons and thunder and critters and good company.
We vow to remember the great feelings we have felt. Our bodies will remember this trip better than our minds if we can relax and feel the river inside of ourselves, flowing,flowing, ever onward through time.