Water From The Well - How Deep Is Your Love?

I always say that simple, everyday stuff is the school of life, and today was no exception.

I am so fortunate to live smack in the middle of 1200 hectares of urban wilderness which is also part of the Niagara Escarpment and is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

We are surrounded by some incredible natural resources here including a multitude of stunning waterfalls and spring fed wells. I live 5 minutes away from this waterfall.

Pretty much once a week I will take a short 10 minute drive down a country road to a natural sulphur spring well to get our water. I have been doing this for years as the water tastes so much better than what comes out of the tap.

Today as I pulled into the tree-lined lot, I noticed that there were two men already at the well filling up their jugs. As I pulled in closer to park the car I noticed that one of the men was enraged and gesturing wildly while yelling at the other guy. It looked like he was angry at the way he was filling up the jugs or something.

When I took a closer look I could see that the other guy was just a kid, maybe 19 or 20 years old. He was a cross between James Dean and an Angel. Long hair, deep-set, soulful eyes, cheekbones and jawbone to die for...I mean this kid was beautiful..and I could sense right away that it was both inside and out.

My 17 yr old daughter was with me and as we pulled to a stop she told me not to get out of the car as this man was looking violent and the kid was looking broken. The kid kept shifting his eyes our way to see if we were watching this exchange. He could see my daughter in the car and I could feel his deep humiliation of the situation.

I assumed the other man was his father, and for just one split second I hesitated about getting out of the car, and then the warrior woman in me took over.

As I reached for the door handle, my daughter reached over to stop me. I calmly told her that I was going to step between the two of them and try and stop this deep and now public shaming from continuing.

As I got out of the car and walked over, I literally stepped between the two of them as naturally as I could to wait my turn to fill up my container. They had tons to fill but I stood silently and made immediate eye contact with the kid.

When I looked over at the father he smiled at me and nodded. I politely nodded back but inside I wanted to rip his eyeballs out.

The sweet kid then let me go ahead when he saw I only had one container to fill and I seized the moment to interact with him.

I asked him if he came here often for water and he said yes. I asked him if they made a special trip from out of town. (as many people come from miles around) He said no and that they were from the area, in fact, he lived not too far from us.

By then my container was full and I held my eye contact with him, silently letting him know how special he was and how 'seen.' I thanked him for letting me go ahead of him and wished him a great day.

As I got back in the car I could feel his father's eyes leering at me and as we drove out I looked over at the kid one more time and smiled.

This all happened in less than 10 minutes and I drove away feeling such a deep love for that kid, so much so that I had no hesitation to put myself between him and the other ***hole.

As we were driving home, subdued and silent, I said to my daughter that as right as it felt to diffuse that awful energy that was taking place there at the well, it was also so hard to shake off the feeling of utter sadness. She felt it to, but she knew I had done all I could in that moment, short of causing severe harm to the assumed father.

People sometimes say I'm too nice or too gentle, but they have no idea of the extent of my love and to what lengths I will go in the name of it.

I share this story today, not to seek praise or compliment, but to show that our capacity to love deeply doesn't always play out as sweet and kind. It can also play out as doing battle (energetically or physically), to be warrior-like, to roar when necessary, and to protect the innocent at all costs.

Later, after listening to some Andrea Bocelli, all seemed right with the world again.

Sometimes the everyday can show us how deep our love really is...

Warmly,

Heather