It’s the lazy, hazy…crazy days of Summer. I passed by 8 dump trucks on my drive between Ingles and Lured. It’s not what our Summer is supposed to look like. Or is it? This is what progress looks like. One load at a time, the lake is coming back. One breath at a time, we can get through this. It’s hard not to be sad when we see the destruction and the things that used to be here, but that are now gone. Buildings that had soul are being bulldozed. The ice cream shop is closed and so are so many places we liked to go to on a hot Summer day. And we’re all grieving the loss. The river and lake are on pause, and we’re not really sure for how long.
Our community is being challenged to keep our hope alive and to give our attention to recovering our new sense of normal. A word that comes to mind is Steadfast. When I was a little girl, my parents went for a walk around the neighborhood and brought home an adorable gray striped kitten. Thankfully they said we could keep him. We named him ‘Steady’ short for Steadfast, because my parents said no matter how many times they tried to ‘lose him’ on their walk, he kept following them. He would speed up when they sped up and would not give up. He was the definition of steadfast. That is where we are right now. Our community is digging deep (maybe pun intended). We’re keeping up. We are Steadfast. Despite the pauses that we have to endure, our focus on the end game is unwavering.
Often when things take a little break, they come back more vibrant than before. If you look beyond the disruption and the noise, you can see the labor of love. There is so much being poured into our recovery. Behind the chainsaws and tree crews, the bulldozers and loads of dirt, the amphibious caterpillars and barges full of lake debris, there is a vision. A picture of clear pathways to reimagine spaces and even new businesses along clean and beautiful waterways. Can you see it? Visualize where we are going and set the intention for our wholeness as a community and for our environment. And when you feel overwhelmed and the sense of loss becomes too much, pause and breathe. I am breathing in. I am breathing out. Repeat that a few more times. Suffering is temporary and this too shall pass. In this present moment however, we can rally around the people and businesses that are trying to survive the season and the new ones that are growing and investing in our comeback. Before you know it, we’ll be truly relishing in the full beauty of our restored lake, our redefined riverfront and sidewalks and all that that have planted their seeds for the revival that is coming to our precious community.
Carla Ann Drummond is the founder of Lake Lure Yoga, where she strives to hold space for peace, breath and inspiring belonging in her community.
