I recently finished the book The Everlasting Stream by Walt Harrington. I saw a very short write-up about it in a magazine and thought it was about hunting. It was, but only peripherally. The book was more; it was about rabbit hunting, class and race, life, family. The author relates how hunting brought clarity to his life that it otherwise was missing. He also writes of his move from the race-paced East Coast to the Midwest at the end of the book. He writes one of the most poignant descriptions of hunting for food, in an era when it isn't "necessary."
He wrote several times in the book of one incident that sticks out in his memory. One of those moments we all hope we have of clarity and focus. Not really of purpose, but lack of purpose. Those moments are precious because they can be so rare. I expect that we all value those moments when they happen because they are rare, and in that sense we should be glad they are.
It resonated with me since those moments have occurred while I have been hunting as well. While the type of hunting I do is different from rabbit hunting, the quiet and solitude of the tree stand allows for a different kind of introspection when I can clear my mind of other thoughts. Some of the most amazing things I've ever seen have been while sitting in a tree stand. Watching a mother bear with three recently born cubs at a distance of 20 yards for over an hour is something I'll never forget.
I've also had them while on vacation, touring the country on two wheels. Never on the first day, my brain is usually going to fast then and still decompressing from work and the rest of normal life. But after a few days, I've exhausted lots of the frantic thoughts and they've been replaced by something clearer. A couple of occasions stick out: Early morning in Canada on the second day of a 3-week trip riding my motorcycle to Alaska. Early morning leaving the Black Hills towards Devil's Tower. Early morning in the Southwest watching the world heat up from the desert cold to the inevitable heat. It has been too long since I've busted out across the country...
Work is absolutely crazy right now. Last week I put in more hours in a week than I ever have since I got my current job. It was a great time to read that book. I have six days of last year's vacation I was thinking of just letting go, but this book brought me back to what is more important. I'm not ready to go over that hump in my life.
After reading The Everlasting Stream I did something I've never done before. I wrote the author. The book was published in 2004 and I really wanted a post script about whether he was still hunting given his hunting was strongly tied to his in-law family and his father-in-law was getting older. I assumed a near-zero chance of his responding but he did. It was a short note, that he isn't actively hunting and misses it.
What would the 30-year-old me think of the 40-year-old me?
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