In the 1940’s a Boy scout brought his best friend on a tour of the caverns with his troop. His best friend, being a mouse, did not listen to the instructions the tour guide gave. One of the most important rules of the cavern is to remain on the path and not to go into the water. The water is 42 degrees-burrrr!
Well, the mouse ran out of the little boy’s pocket, into the stream, up the limestone wall, and froze there. He dangled out of reach like a mini-stalactite and perished.
Sixty years later his body remains persevered and petrified. Day by day calcium deposits dripped over the little mouse’s body making it more rock then anything else(True Story).
At first my daughter was horrified and so “grossed out that I am gonna puke” but after we left she kept recalling the story and wondering about the boy. She wondered if the boy ever got a new mouse. She wondered if there was an effort to save the mouse. She wondered if the boy was still a boy scout. And on and on.
Twenty four hours later and yes-we were still talking about the mouse. She asked if we thought the boy came back year after year to visit the mouse. Maggie thought if it had been her pet, she would come back year after year. I asked her why. She simple said, To remember.” I paused and felt the gravity of that sentiment. A moment later my daughter finished her thought by adding, “ I mean come on Mom, it is a pretty big deal. Your mouse getting stuck on a wall. Not like that happens everyday!” I just laughed.
I still sit with her original declaration, to remember. I am a believer that we should not stay in the past but to live in the present moment. But remembrance is different. It is reverence. It is acknowledgement. It is witness.
So thank you little mouse and Maggie for reminding me that to remember. Thank you for teaching me that remembering the past is a sacred part of who I have become today.
Namaste
Krissy
