Quiet Places

I went to the woods yesterday.

May not sound like much to you, but to me, in my circumstances, it was a very big deal.  I was not in the woods more than a half hour before I got rained out.  The rain wasn't the really bad part.  It was the lightening.

Sure the rain was cold and the air temp not that high, so I would have had to watch for signs of hypothermia.  I would because I was alone.  I might have stayed out longer but lightening started up out of a thunderstorm cell that only grew in intensity while I was making up my mind.

Imagine standing upright in a forest that have trees up to a 100 foot in heighth, on wet ground, in the rain, holding a piece of steel and metal containing explosive charges.  Now tell me would you be standing there and not consider going home?

The great thing in this situation was I was actually out in the woods.  Somewhere I had not been since at least January.  The woods have always been my 'quiet' place.  One that I could retreat to and soak in the sounds and scents of nature and growing things.  If I am lucky, and sneaky enough, I might even see animals in the wild that most people only see pictures of.  The woods are my Walden's Pond even though I am no Henry David Thoreau.

I will go to the woods again another time, but it will not be the same.  They never are.  They change, even from on moment to another.  With the intrusion of man they change even more, but the change they bring about in man while infinitesimal but so profound as well.  I hope that you have a place like that.  If you do not, I hope that you can find that place before it is too late.

I went to the woods yesterday, and I am better for it.

Until next time.............................