A Walk in the Woods
Yesterday I went wandering.
Nothing terribly adventurous. No passport. No suitcase. No airport security asking me to take off my shoes.
Just me, a pair of walking shoes, and Long Hunter State Park.
I had decided I wanted to get outside for a little while, so I headed over to walk around Couchville Lake.
And almost immediately, I started noticing things.
The trees. The water. The sun. The shadows.
I don't know why the shadows caught my attention so much, but they did. Sunlight would break through the trees and suddenly the forest floor looked completely different. Bright in one spot. Dark in another. Changing every few steps.
Then there were the trees. And oh my gosh, the trees.
Some were tall and straight and behaved exactly as respectable trees should.
Others apparently had different plans.
They twisted. They bent. They grew sideways. They wrapped themselves around other branches and seemed to say, I'll grow however I damn well please. These are the ones I loved the most.
They were doing what they wanted in whatever form that they wanted.
There were fallen trees slowly becoming part of the forest floor again. Old hollow stumps that looked like they had stories to tell. Rocks scattered everywhere. Leaves beginning to turn. Although this year has been a little "less colorful". And little pockets of water tucked back into the woods where everything suddenly became still.
Then the trail would open up and there was the lake.
Blue sky. Blue water. A breeze coming across it.
And one lone goose floating around as though he had personally reserved the entire lake for the afternoon.
I stopped more than I walked.
I took pictures of things that probably wouldn't make anyone else's list of Things You Must See at Long Hunter State Park.
A crooked tree. A dead stump. Shadows. Rocks. A goose.
But I loved every bit of it!
I think that's what I'm beginning to understand about wandering.
It doesn't require an agenda or an itinerary.
It doesn't require a plane ticket. Although that does tend to make it more interesting.
And apparently it doesn't even require knowing exactly what you're looking for.
Sometimes you just start walking. And listening.
And somewhere between the trees and the water and the shadows dancing across the trail, you realize you've stopped thinking quite so much.
You're just there. Looking. Listening. Noticing.
And maybe that's why I want to keep wandering.
Because there's a great big world I still want to see. And I will see it!
Thailand is coming. There will be other countries. Other cities. Other adventures.
But there are also crooked trees ten minutes down the road.
And I don't want to miss those either. ❤️
Comments