Joy can be floating down the river, listening to Celine Dion, and finding a poodle wearing a clown nose in the clouds.
Current River | Van Buren, Missouri
“When you bless the day, I just drift away. All my worries die. I know that I'm alive. I get wings to fly. God knows that I'm alive.”
I’m Alive - Celine Dion
Finding uncomplicated joy isn’t always in the big things… it can be in the tiniest moments with yourself. In recovery, we focus on so many big things: mindfulness, forgiveness, introspection, connection to a Higher Power, etc. But we often forget one important thing when we’re so engrossed in becoming a better version of ourselves, we forget to give ourselves grace. We are doing challenging and real work every day. We must always remember that this life is a gift.
Sometimes to find uncomplicated joy, we just have to relax and remember to not take life so seriously.
Every year, a small group of girlfriends and I travel about two hours south of our hometown and rent a house by the river. This one weekend each year is our time to disconnect from our daily lives and just have fun together. We cook dinner, sit out on the deck overlooking the river, have impromptu dance parties, recreate scenes from our favorite musicals, and let go.
We laugh until we cry, and we cry until we laugh. We eat junk food and scream along to our favorite songs. At the river, we are untethered to everything else going on in the world except each other.
On Saturday, we load up coolers, pack up bungees and carabiners like we’re going into the wilderness, strap on our neon orange safety whistles, and go floating down the Current River. We become River Rats for the day.
What always starts as an adventure, getting our gear to the drop off point, sweating, swearing, and definitely not making new friends, determining our best method to stay together and away from snakes, and finally to being taken by the Current, we then spend the next 7 hours doing nothing but float.
The spring-fed river water is cool and becomes a beacon when the sun is at its highest. We’re in no rush to finish. We talk about mindless things like how cults are formed, and listen to music. Everything from Bruce Springsteen to Whitney Houston, Zac Efron to Ja Rule - our curated playlist takes over.
However, the floating experience itself is never flawless. We’ve had our brush with danger over the years, getting caught up in downed trees, failing to get back into the raft after a dip in the river, losing some shoes, and almost a group member once (the upside was her white ass in the air didn’t show a single cellulite dimple), though we’ve always managed to make it home in one piece. We all know to use our group-specific distress call if ever in danger… whistle Jingle Bells and help will come.
Sometimes it’s the hummingbird moments,
like seeing a poodle wearing a clown nose hovering over the Current River while I’m Alive plays, that make a life worth living.
At about the 5 hour mark, we typically fall into a rhythm. On a straight stretch at a comfortable pace, silence comes. We drift in our feels.
Loving the calmness under the hot summer sun, I began finding shapes in the clouds. The song I’m Alive by Celine Dion came on and I melted into the peaceful moment. Humming along quietly, I continued my search in the sky. Just as Celine was belting the chorus of the familiar tune, I saw the best cloud. I found a poodle wearing a clown nose.
I didn’t share my finding with anyone, I just giggled to myself and mentally cataloged it as one of the best moments of my life. Without a care in the world, surrounded by a group of my closest friends, I felt more at peace on the river that day than I had in a long time. I made sure I paused for a moment to reflect on how spectacular life can be, and it doesn’t have to be that complicated.
You don’t have to wait for the lion moments to define you. And you don’t need the ladybug moment to ground you. Sometimes it’s the hummingbird moments, like seeing a poodle wearing a clown nose hovering over the Current River while I’m Alive plays, that make a life worth living.
Written by: Parwick
Photo credit: Jetsetters Club, 2025 & Parwick, 2024
