Chapter Three: My Moments

I've been at Green Acre for three weeks now, and it has been an overwhelming amount of tiredness. I'm exhausted! Many people have been asking me exactly what I do at Green Acre, so I would love to give a more accurate description. We work hard for nine hours a day. My day starts at 6:30 AM, and by seven, we are down at the main office building, ready to clean. We say a prayer, then begin vacuuming, dusting, changing trash bags, and cleaning the two bathrooms. It takes us to just before 8:00, and then we fold laundry until breakfast comes at 8:00. We have breakfast until 8:45, and then the work continues until 12:30, when we then have an hour break for lunch. We then continue work until 4:00 PM. "Work" has consisted of things such as deep cleaning all the buildings (essentially making sure there is not a speck of dirt ANYWHERE), cleaning carpets with a massive, beastly machine that will drag you away if you are not careful, vacuuming every square inch of the floors in all the buildings, cleaning windows, cleaning cobwebs on the outside of the buildings, and anything and everything else that has to be done to keep this establishment to prime cleanliness. And it is prime.
Green Acre is a beautiful establishment. It is located right on the Piscataqua River, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and the river has the feel of a bay. It smells like the ocean, the banks of the river are lined with sand, and seaweed is everywhere. Only one issue: you cannot swim in it. The Piscataqua is the second most deadly river current in the country. So it is so nice to look at, and picturesque sunsets happen every evening right over it, but you cannot go in.
One of my favorite things to do since I have been at Green Acre is to go and sit along the banks and just stare at the water, watching the boats go by. I lose myself in it. Not in thoughts, not in a fantasy, but just in the water, how it flows, and the way the sun sparkles off the surface. I hear the birds calling, and I see ducks swim by, but peeling my eyes off the water is impossible sometimes. It mesmerizes me. And I now know that water has the power to heal. Water is quite possibly the most powerful entity on earth. Who is not captivated by the ocean? Or by the waves gently kissing the sand? Or by a waterfalls gentle, or roaring, descending of droplets? I feel perfect, I feel calm, and I feel content sitting next to the river. Somedays I do yoga right there on the beach, and somedays I just sit there, for fear of losing that precious water that rushes downstream so fast.
Sometime last week, I was walking down to the beach in front of Green Acre, and stepping onto the beach, I see just to my left, a seal happily perched on the sand. He looks at me a bit wearily, but makes no attempt to leave, and he does not seem frightened by my presence. I quickly sat down and watched him for what seemed like hours. He would roll over to one side, flip his flipper at me, then just lay there, with his head hanging awkwardly in midair for a few minutes. Then he would roll back onto his belly and lay his head down in the sand. Sometimes he would stop and just stare at me for a few minutes, but mostly he was okay with me near him. I ended up doing yoga right there next to him (about ten or so feet away), and we contentedly enjoyed each others company for almost an hour and a half. It was perfect.
Moments like those by the water do not come often in ours lives. Those simple little joys are what I crave, and what I love. Work, or service, here, is difficult. And I am still quite unsure about my place here. But I am finding contentment in those simple moments. They are my moments, my place, the place where I can come to deep within myself and know exactly where I am and who I am, in that moment.