Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It is such a wonderful little town and, for me, is the backdrop for such a big lesson when I most needed it.  Downtown is anchored with the architecturally beautiful bathhouses built at the turn of the century - that would be the twentieth century, not the twenty-first century.  Its history is rich, based on themes such as Al Capone, gangsters, Tommy guns, gambling, horse racing, an alligator farm, and the grande dame at the end of Central Avenue, The Arlington Hotel - said to have been favored by Al Capone.

***

My husband and I were lucky enough to stay on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, visiting our friends this October.  This is a beautiful lake, and at the end of October the lake is generally quiet, smooth as glass, and the leaves on the trees are starting to turn.  On some mornings, fog covers the skin of the water and the sun leaks through the tree branches, making the colors brighter than they really are.  This is a magical time.  If you look away for too long, the fog  will be gone when you look back, and you question whether it was ever there to begin with.

For me, however, Hot Springs will always evoke the memory of The Heron.  My friend with the Hot Springs lake house had told me about the elusive Heron.  The first time I visited, I was there for a week and I never saw him.  She would send me pictures and I would look at them, with the long, gangly bird taking on a much bigger importance to me than it had a right to.  Just like Tom Petty’s song, “the Waiting is the hardest part.”** After I would leave the lakehouse, or after I would go into the lake house for some reason or another, Karen would tell me I just missed The Heron.  Frustrating!  I was waiting to see The Heron and it was not happening on my timeline.

But The Waiting paid off on the second visit.  The Heron waited for me when we arrived at my friend’s house.  He was standing on the corner of the neighbor's dock, his feathers puffed up and sleek like a full length fur coat. I stood motionless for quite some time in silence, shallow breathing the cool lake air, and generally feeling at peace with The Heron.  He took off across the gray water.  But, much to the surprise of the three of us standing in the yard, a Second Heron showed up, stopped briefly to show his Heron credentials to us, and then took off to skim the lake with his mate.  The Waiting had been the hardest part but in the end I was rewarded.

I have used the lesson learned from The Heron and The Waiting over the past three weeks.  We had to cut our visit to the lake short by a couple of days to visit an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in surgery very few doctors do.   My husband has suddenly found himself unable to walk for the most part, and he has lost almost all balance.  He is undergoing batteries of tests and we are waiting to hear if this can be remedied with surgery and if it can, what the risks are.  We have heard that some surgeries can last up to fourteen hours.  Of course, if the result is that he can walk and is no longer taking handfuls of pain pills, it could be worth it.  But then, I am not the one facing the surgery or the recovery.  For both of us, however, we are now “waiting for our dreams and not knowing if they will come true.”  I just pray that in this instance the song is an optimistic song.  But, “the Waiting is the hardest part.”

*  Tom Petty, from “The Waiting,” Hard Promises (1981).

** Special Tribute edition Rolling Stone, Tom Petty 1950-2017, The Ultimate Guide to His Music & Legend.  “‘It [The song The Waiting] was about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true, “ Petty said.  “I always felt it was an optimistic song.’” Id. p. 85.