I sit here, on this uncomfortable limestone, white, creek rock, on this unusually warm day in February, just relaxing and listening. Paying "personal attention and toil in [my] appriciation of nature," is just what I am doing (145). The sound of the creek rushing by me is enough calmness to puy my little soul to sleep. As the currents slowly rush and trickle down these rocks, they make thier own little marks on this creekbed that will last for a lifetime. The rock I am sitting on is now completely surrounded by water on three sides becuase the currents have worn away the rock over the years. Behind me there is a most magnificant waterfall that, though it is small, takes my breath from me for a breif moment of time. The waterfall must be the happiest part of the creek because it can decide it's path down the rocks, while the rest of the creek must follow the path that has already been made for it in the past years. I am the waterfall--I like to lead and show others the way. I will never be like the water in the creek that just follows in the footsteps left before it. As I sit on this rock and observe the beauty that surrounds me, I begin to wonder "why, with so mnay other subjects available at the University of Texas, should I be scibbling away about an insignificant creek?" (163) My heart answers this great question with-why not? I cannot recall, in my chaotic life, the last time that I could sit down somewhere this peaceful and calm. With the sun beating down at just the right temperature, and the calming sounds-where could I ever be content, but here?

This may sound funny, but I always use otherness when I look at flowing water, such as this creek, or in my childhood-I would look at the water in the alley. I would imagine I was an ant. Just a small unimportant ant that was on an innertube. Wow- what a rush those rapids are-here I am floating along on my tube and this creek is just like the Colorado river. Everytime I get to a point where I think the rapids are over...BOOM--another one crashes over my head. My favorite places to ride on Waller Creek are the waterfall and the canyons that flow through the rocks. Forget Wet'n'Wild, this is the best water park I have ever been to! If only I could be that ant floating down Waller Creek, with not a care in the world, just letting my troubles float far away, never to surface again.,.