Stopping By the Woods
My hike turned into a magical day full of unexpected delights…
I had at least ten errands to complete on this sunny day, but when I called my daughter she told me to come on over for a walk. And by the way, the other daughter would be there, too. I decided to drive to her house, ignoring the shirts that were for the dry cleaner, the small rugs I had to take back to the store, or the prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy.
I rarely see my oldest, and when I pulled into Joey’s driveway, there stood Cali. Cali looked pleased and surprised to see me, and she asked if I was joining them for the first walk of spring. It arrived this week, and the daffodils, crocuses and magnolias are blooming. The bushes are now vibrant and green in that pure hue of spring.
After the two grandkids were tucked into the jogging stroller, we made our way onto the road. A dead end road, which means not much traffic passed to pester us, and we walked at a brisk pace. We happily chattered about what each of us had been up to, and the afternoon grew warmer. Both of my girls like to run for exercise, so I hoped I could keep up with them.
The farm fields we passed lay fallow and empty, shorn of their last crop. The houses that stood far apart from one another looked friendly and cozy. After a mile we turned onto a deserted road, and suddenly Joey asked if we wanted to see the spot where she had found some really old glass from the 1930’s.
Of course we did!
We took the kids out and made our way into the woods, except we had to clear through the pricker bushes first. One inside, we picked out way around the trunks of low, twisty branches of the many bushes and smallish trees. I saw broken glass strewn almost everywhere, so we warned Levi not to touch the sharp glass, while little Nora stayed in her mother’s arms.
I spotted a blue glass with a unique design and plucked it up. Delighted at my first success I continued to scout around for whole bottles, and so many were dug into the soil. I picked up a promising bottle, and when my daughter noticed the maggots crawling over it, I just wiped them off to have a closer look. The amber glass didn’t look terribly appealing, so I settled it back into the mud.
We had stumbled across an old dump that must have existed ninety years ago. We found porcelain doll faces, the heels of shoes, and more glass. Jo and Cali spread out and looked for treasures, but I had enough so I took Levi and we decided to find sticks and throw them into the rusty creek that ran under the tangled branches.
When baby Nora decided she wanted to do what her big brother was doing, I took her too, and she happily hit the trees with her own smaller sticks. We sat under the canopy of twisty branches next to a twisting creek full of rusty water and acted like children.
When a car passed on the road, Joey said to duck down and we did. We were in the very back of the nature center and she thought a passerby would yell at us. Then I laughed and told her the jogging stroller stood next to the street, empty. We stood up as much as we could in that maze of trunks, branches and broken glass and laughed! Three grown women were picking through the dirt and were scared of what someone might say? Really?
Time wore on, and my daughters might still be in the woods searching for glass that dated back to earlier than the 1930’s if I hadn’t urged them to make our way back to the country road.
My grandchildren wanted to bring their sticks with them, and I found one for myself. I felt like a kid again. Discovering a new area where few ever entered reminded me of my own adventures when I wore a younger face.
I felt the wonder of my girls as they searched for bottles to clean and use at home, and the little ones brought the joy of childhood back to me as I sat on their level and did what they liked.
Sometimes finding sticks and digging in the mud are the best ways to spend an afternoon when the day is warm but the ground carries winter’s coolness underneath. Mating birds beckoned to one another as we picked our separate ways out of the thicket. I ate some of the kids’ peanut butter crackers, and we drank out of the same water bottle.
We had stayed too long in the woods, and I almost heard my mother calling me home for dinner. I used to have a woods behind a house, and my friends and I spent lazy afternoons walking across thick branches to test our balance.
This day I felt sweaty and muddy, but mainly I felt happy. We all looked pleased and scruffy.
We tried to hurry home, but my daughters and I seldom get time to oursleves, so we took our slow, sweet time passing the houses and fields. All of us had mud on our shoes, arms, and hands, but we didn’t care. We were having an adventure, and I don’t think we felt ready for the magic of the day to fade.
Don’t you think spring is the perfect time to be childish? Even when this world is crazy? Maybe especially then? I think so, too.
Have fun!
