You see, I FOUND THE WOODS! I found those trees and a path right through them. They are about a block away from me - totally within walking distance. I spent an ecstatic half hour walking through them and exploring and just GLORYING in them. I am not actually in the metropolis, and I counted myself blessed to be out in a more rural area - lots of green and down in a hollow with trees up on the hills around me. We're on a quiet, out-of-the-way street that loops back on itself. But today I realized I need not only green but beautiful shades of brown, too. And maybe I've learned a little bit of the reason that I have missed them and they are more important to me than I have ever realized. How much I have been missing the woods! Woods are one of my very favorite things, unequivocally. The girl who grew up in Penns Woods has been out of the woods for years! I don't know what I was thinking!
As a child, I don't ever remember NOT camping (and not RV "camping" mind you, which I will steadfastly assert is NOT camping but taking a house into the woods). My parents' honeymoon was a camping trip to Locust Lake State Park. Camping was a part of my life from moment one. It's as part of my blood as writing and reading are. Building a campfire is one of my favorite joys in life (and I put up with being teased as a pyromaniac because I love campfires so much). Setting up a tent may be a pain (literally for me in some recent memory), but waking up in the morning, unzipping the tent and pulling myself out into fresh, crisp morning air is so totally worth it. The sounds of nature all around me is the sweetest lullaby I've ever heard. The woods is anything but quiet at night. Crickets are only the beginning. The sounds of trees swaying in the wind is so soothing! And I sleep better after being outside all day than if I were on the softest bed on earth. And, setting aside the occaisional accidental rock shelf when setting up a tent, mother earth provides the perfect balance of softness and firmness in my book.
And, of course, it is not just about camping. I didn't go camping today. I found a hiking path. To be precise, I found an arboretum. But, for me the greens, browns, and blues of nature are balm to my soul. Canoeing, hiking, camping, outdoor concerts, sitting in parks or on tree stumps and writing, breathing in the fresh air and the loam earthy smell of the soil. Green has a smell and I love it!
I frequently take walks around my neighborhood loop. This morning I noticed, for the first time, a small road off the right. A neighbor drove down it, which brought it to my attention. So, I thought, I am in a place right now where I don't have anywhere I HAVE to be or anyone expecting me anywhere at any time. For the first time in a very long time in my life I have plenty of time to explore and, right now, I am feeling more adventurous and reckless than I have in a few years. As a result, I ended up finding a part of my neighborhood I never knew existed before. I found myself on a nice country road surrounded by yards and trees with squirrels and birds and bunnies. It was the perfect picture of a light spring morning, with the sun shining as it came up over the horizon. I was content and cheerful. And then ...
And then.
Then I saw the dead end and smack dab in the middle of it was a sign that looked "official". Years of United States State and Federal Parks have taught me to recognize signs like this. "Arboretum" it said, then listed "prohibited acts" such as fire building, etc. Okay, so no camping, but still. I said out loud "Is there a path?", my excitement growing and growing as I realized what treasure I had just uncovered. And, well, there was! I stepped over the silver gray guard rail and into my heaven.
Yesterday I was discussing heaven with my friend Mary Sue and contemplating what it's going to look like. I couldn't really say what I thought it would look like to me. It occurs to me now that it will HAVE to be a woods. Nothing else will really do.
So what, you may ask, is an arboretum? I was confused. Maybe it was the excitement. I have certainly heard the word before, but I have little experience with using it. I confused it with an aviary and was sort of expecting to see a bird wildlife refuge! But, no, it looks like a woods with a nicely-graded (mostly) path through it. A big creek runs on one side and a gulley/creek is on the other side. I realized it is the creek/flood gulley that runs behind my house. Last week I hunted out a spot to sit in my "backyard" next to the creek. This is a little farther away, but I enjoy knowing it's the so close and is the same creature. I have so much of it yet to explore, but I am thrilled to have found this gem.
I am trying to find a way to stay where I am living now. The next few months will tell the tale. I think it may break my heart if I do have to leave, but I also realized (so many realizations lately, really!) that what I did when we first moved here was actively seek out the things that nourish my soul, such as the woods! If I can do it here, I am confident that I will do the same wherever I land.
I went into the woods to find myself,
To find the essential nature in myself
which I had left by the wayside.
I went into the woods to restore my soul,
to find my peace again,
and rest myself in the miracles of God’s creation
which we have taken for granted,
To make myself again
That which I once was.
--Ilene D.O. Swartz
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
--Henry David Thoreau
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