Rivers Sounds are the sounds of Peace

For a guy that can't hear, my head is constantly full of sound. I hear the voices of my characters. I hear the background music. Almost every morning, I hear the muse dictating the next episode in this on-going saga that all true story tellers possess. I also hear peace. Yes, it has a sound. Most people associate the concept of peace with silence. Silence that is experienced by looking inward mimics sounds that put me at peace. Rivers do that for me. All rivers have sound whether they're trickling over rocks on their way to the sea from their upstream origins or roaring beyond their banks at flood stage. If you are aware and take the time, you can always hear them before you see them. For me they are the voice of peace. I've heard them in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee just as clearly as I hear the voice of the Hillsborough River flowing through urban Tampa. I have heard the voice of peace on Beaufort Bay and all the way across the country on the Hoh River on the Olympic Peninsula. I'm never quite sure if my love of flyfishing came before or after I discovered my love of the sound of a river. The fact that trout, steelhead, and salmon happen to live in most of my favorites is an added benefit. It is always easier to say to my friends that I am going fishing than it is to reveal that I'm really going to listen to the river while I fish. Rivers are special places. They make their own way and create their own positive energy. Tap that energy by listening. When you're on the river, take out the earbuds, remove the headphones, for Christ's sake stop talking all the time, and listen. You will hear the muse, the angels of creativity calling to you. They are singing a song of peace.