Going to the Woods to Live Deliberately

There are few things that give me so much pleasure as being in the woods.

Of course, there are bugs and pollen and sneezes, but these natural annoyances are parts and parcels of the forest and of me. I learned to live with these and love the woods at an early age, and some parts of the personality, thank goodness, never change.

I took a side trail in the park this morning, and decided to sit on a small mound of grass by the stream, one of my children's already used notebooks on my lap, sunglasses and fanny pack tossed aside for the moment. A thick limb overhung the stream, ric-rac reflections from the water casting images on bark, bright light on coarse brown, nothing but the banter of the birds and this light soothing my senses. I wonder if birds can see reflections.

A tiny fish surprised me, jumping out of the shallow water, the splash emanating ripples and quiet watery sounds, audio-visual treats from someone like me who is often overwhelmed in a busy audio-visual world. You see, I have ADD, and I often feel like a sensory sponge. But a sponge can hold only so much liquid. I tend to absorb most of what is around me, distracted by the external, and all at the same time. I come to the woods for a bit of a break. And in the woods, I get to think and write in ways I cannot at home.

I was soon distracted not by one but by three families of Canadian Geese gliding over the thin water, behind each adult, at least four goslings. They stopped at the base of a narrow, damp ribbon of a trail, one adult taking the lead climbing what must have been a steep challenge for the waddling goslings that followed. That was the pattern: adult, goslings, adult goslings, adult, goslings, a combined group of close to twenty.

Having made it to the top, they began to feed, and I thought about joining their family. This is a park, and they live in peace. The worms are plentiful and the people on this remote trail, sparse. I was the only one there, and I wondered who else had used the trail. It was a bit overrun and off the beaten path, just like I love a trail to be.

It is cool in the woods when the air is warm, and it is alive when our society feels dead. How I would love to be camping right now, more hours in the woods, living alongside birds.

Soon, I promise myself. We will take a camping trip soon.