Working at The River Center, it seems appropriate to talk about going with the flow.

Who hasn’t thrown a stick into the river or stream to watch it make its way downstream? It catches on a rock until a current sends it on its way again, spinning in circles, stopping for a moment in a quiet spot, before continuing down the stream and around the corner. Sometimes it feels like we are a stick in the current, spinning, stopping, speeding along, caught up in the river’s flow.

I had an opportunity a week ago to see our rivers and streams overflowing. My husband and I got caught in the flash floods around Swanzey. We had driven over from Dublin in the rain and picked up takeout to share with visiting family. As we know, we have had a lot of rain lately, so I thought, no big deal.

Except it was a big deal in the Swanzey area. We tried different routes back to the cottage and encountered closed roads, turned around, tried another way only to find yet another impassable road. A few places had fire trucks blocking the roads. We drove through gushing streams that were running down driveways and across the road. We saw pavement that had crumbled. Faces and cars were becoming familiar as we were all trying to figure out how to get where we wanted to go. Fire and rescue personnel and vehicles were everywhere – main roads, dirt roads, wherever needed. And the rain kept coming.

When we almost made it to our destination, we had to park the car, grab the takeout (we weren’t leaving that behind!) and walk the last half-mile to the family. This involved wading through newly formed streams, lots of mud and walking around newly exposed rocks. And then the power was out.

Three young children, five adults, a large dog and takeout. We were out of the pouring rain, we were together, and the food was amazingly still warm. (I had tucked it in an insulated container –  a proud moment for me.) We located flashlights and candles, and dug out the paper plates. We were OK. The driveway can be repaired (the next day’s job), the power came back on the same evening and the rain did eventually stop.

For many, those flash floods created much more devastation. There will be many throughout the Monadnock region and beyond who will be working hard to repair the damage done to roads, homes, driveways and much more for some time to come. They will need help and support to assess the damage, rebuild and move forward.

As I told friends who were checking in on us, we were OK and this will be a memorable time. Sometimes our family memories don’t involve visits to Disney. Sometimes memories are built during those challenging times when you just have to go with the flow and life doesn’t happen the way you planned.

Speaking of rivers, we have a name for our new mascot for The River Center. After soliciting votes from our community, our mascot is Rio, the owl. “Rio” means “river.” So appropriate. Thank you for helping us with finding just the right name.

So Rio and I are wishing you a wonderful summer filled with lots of adventures that just might mean changes in the plans and needing to go with the flow. To learn more about The River Center, go to rivercenternh.org.

Margaret Nelson is executive director of The River Center Family and Community Resource Center.