Unexpected Buddha Find

A couple of weeks ago, we headed down to the River. It was the part of the Mississippi that divides Northeast Minneapolis from Downtown. There is an island out there just up from the lock and dam, just up from where St. Anthony Falls used to exist.

Nicollet Island is one of my favorite places in Minneapolis. I have been there so many times, in so many seasons, for so many occasions, mostly all happy, but a few sad ones when the flow of the river all around healed me.

Therefore it was quite surprising to me that I had never noticed this Buddha before. Perhaps...no, I thought I could come up with an explanation, but there is no reason that I can think of that prevented me from seeing this totem.



I love going to Nicollet Island. I've stopped by there on so many memorable occasions in my life, at times throwing in flowers for offerings to be carried downstream by the River. We watched fireworks down at this spot as the new millennium began. One year we stopped by on our ten year anniversary and ended up standing under a tree branch that held the largest eagle I have ever seen. I'm still astonished, sitting here thinking about it six years later. It felt like a sacred sign. I went to this island on the evening I defended my dissertation, drank champagne and threw bright tulips into the water.

I just realized this is the place where I say my prayers and give thanks for all that is good in my life.

Rather fitting, isn't it? Finding this Buddha watching over this island?