ROW YOUR BOAT

Wisdom can be found in strange places.
One of the wisest sayings I know is expressed
in a children’s nursery rhyme.

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream!

The key is to 'go with the flow'
(sometimes that's a challenge to determine)
and not merely to drift...
but to participate in life.
And…. be joyous in the adventure.
Ultimately, however, life is an enigma—
it 'is but a dream.'

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Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

So goes one of the stanzas in the hymn St. Anne,
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”
It’s one of my favorites.
We sang it at the end of Dennis’ funeral,
as well as my Father's and my Mother's.