Hope Lies Waiting... In the Wings of Salvation

A Story of the Salton Sea, CA.  

My intent with this blog is to share stories about loss and grief and how women over 50 rise through and above and out and beyond… all of it.  I feel blessed to be connected to so many resilient, tenacious women who are living bold, dynamic…. sometimes messy… lives.  A brave life is always fraught with starts and finishes.  A brave life is always messy. 

In today’s post I ponder geography as a metaphor for messy... trumped by human spirit.  I’m taking a brief diversion from the human side to reflect on the loss of an entire formation by mistake, as a metaphor for the losses we all experience in life.  A geography that is both male and female.  And while loss turns to hope in perpetual waiting in one spot on the map, not too far away, grief finds… salvation.  

   

By the time we reach 50, the majority of us have experienced life changing disappointments at best, and heart pounding, gut wrenching losses that can leave us feeling bereft, vulnerable and depressed.  Loss is life.  No one gets off easy.  Loss comes in all sizes and forms.  There is no measuring loss… or grief. No one’s loss is bigger or better than another.  No one’s process of grieving is right or wrong.  It just is.  This, in itself isn’t remarkable. What is remarkable, is the resilience and tenacity of people… men and women…. who choose to move on with creativity, curiosity, courage….  and audacity. 

Last week, I visited the Salton Sea, located in southern California with a friend, I've had the privilege of knowing for 40 years and who I admire for her courage, curiosity and class …. among other things.  It occurred to me, as we tentatively wandered the stinky, abandoned, wasted shoreline along Bombay Beach that this vast, receding inland lake can be viewed as a metaphor for the circuitous path of loss and grief that all of us are destined to experience as we age. http://saltonseamuseum.org/salton_sea_history.html

Dead fish line the shores of the Salton Sea 

The Salton Sea hasn’t risen.  And, it likely won’t, as California state politicians necessitate managing the livelihood of California farmers battling 5 years plus of severe drought, a priority.  But, the history of the Salton Sea is a fascinating story about eccentric opportunities created out of human error resulting in loss of livelihoods and communities and ending in grieving of grand geographic proportions. 

A tiny bit of history… taken, with caution, from Wikipedia.  Fifteen miles wide and 35 miles long, the Salton Sea was accidentally created as a result of an engineering error in 1905, when efforts were made to increase water flow into an area for farming when irrigation canals were dug from the Colorado River into the Coachella valley.  The "sea" then was fed by three rivers, as well as agricultural runoff, drainage systems, and creeks. With an estimated surface area of 350 square miles (910 km²), the Salton Sea became the largest lake in California and had some success as a resort area in the 1950’s – 1970’s. 

And dead pianos!

However, due to the waters receding, resulting in increasing salinity and pollution of the lake over years from agricultural runoff and other sources, many of the settlements have shrunk in size, or have been abandoned.  Many of the species of fish that lived in the "sea" have been killed off by a combination of pollutants, salt levels, and algai blooms. Dead fish have been known to wash up in mass quantities on the beach. The smell of the lake combined with the stench of the decaying fish, also contributed to the decline of the tourist industry around the Salton Sea.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea#Subsequent evolution.  The increasing stench which is expected to get worse and spread over time could threaten property values in relatively affluent cities as far away as Palm Springs, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and La Quinta. 

Like other geographies ghosted due to various human atrocities, the stages of grief are evident… all around the edges… in the abandoned towns and in the people who doggedly stay put.  This isn’t a new story.  Cities, towns, neighbourhoods, communities, come and go.  But, as I reflect on the possible outcomes of my own personal and recent losses… yes, these days all roads do lead back to me!!!!… the Salton Sea represents a barely living, breathing vision of loss and grief in the stark pictures of abandoned homes and in the 9:30a.m. beer and whiskey drinking patrons of the Ski Inn bar in Bombay Beach who are still waiting for rescue. For these people, hope lies in their resilience for waiting.  But, mere waiting is never enough.  And, in this case, it is likely that adversarial engagement with politicians won’t be enough either.  The solution will have to come from accepting the losses of the past and moving on.  Literally.  And so it is for me.  Waiting for hopeful intervention will not be my story.  There is no rescue… except from within. 

Part 2 of this story…. In the Wings of Salvation…. In my next post.