The Call of the Creek

The Call of the Creek

By Kimberly Jensen

The water tingled as I stepped into the cold current. Within minutes my ankles were bright red but I kept walking downstream, gingerly stepping on each rock, gaining my footing and then moving on. I heard a splash and then a thud and turned around to find my sun-kisssed sister on her bottom, laughing as the water lapped over her shorts. The fall had splashed droplets of water onto her face and her slightly wet bangs hung over her deep set blue eyes. Those eyes were the color of the summer sky and they sparkled as she laughed. I went to her and gave her a hand and a hoist and we laughed together as we continued our journey down the creekbed. The sound of the rippling water brought me back to the present as I watched my own sun-kissed daughter walk down the creek and fall onto the rocks, scraping her elbow. She laughed as she stood back up, showing me her newly acquired injury. I stood on the bridge watching her play with her middle school friends. I had walked down to the creek just to check out the water level and make sure it wasn't running too quickly. There may be video games, ipods, dvds and cell phones in today's middle school years, but for today, there is just the sun, the water, good friends, giggles and the call of the creek.