Deep Water Passage by Ann Linnea

"A Spiritual Journey at Midlife"

Ann and her friend Paul decide to kayak around Lake Superior one summer. It takes them nine weeks and nearly the whole first month was miserable and often dangerous as they paddled the north shore heading east from their homes in Duluth, Minnesota. The weather was stormy and grey and cold day after day. She writes movingly of both the physical stress and her inward turmoil as she mourns the death of a very dear friend and of missing her family, specifically her two children. She has ambivalence about what she is doing and angst about her life once back home in Duluth.

I both liked and did not like this book. I liked the adventure and the good writing, but I felt the author was really quite self-absorbed. Others would probably love and understand that part of the book. I mean, who of us aren't self-absorbed? Still, for some reason, I just couldn't empathize as the ashes of her friend seemed as important as the living people in her life. This sounds callous. It probably is.

This grand paddle was an amazing feat, supposedly the first time a woman did it, and Ann not only was successful but also wrote a good book about it. Unfortunately, there are no photographs which would have enhanced the story; still, the writing is descriptive enough...storms, wild water, pebbled beaches, the wind and rain, the people they meet along the way, the 30+ mile paddling days, the food, and the reunions along the way with their friends and families...all are compelling.

"Another gust of wind and I braced on the right side...The aloneness and separation were as terrifying as the storm itself. I do not know how many braces or gusts of winds or douses from trailing waves I battled, or for how long before my arms began to ache. I had long since given up keeping track of Paul...There was no other reality. No dry or wet tent. No campfire. No beautiful thoughts or revelations in journals. No friends. No family. Just me and the wind and the waves and the cliffs. And I was the one thing that didn't belong out here. "

Ann Linnea now "lives in Puget Sound...where as cofounder of PeerSpirit she offers classes, seminars and consultations to people ready to make sprit-based change."