A Walker in the Woods

My roots are in the depths of the woods - Galle

Emma had discovered walking as an almost teen. She had been an awkward kid, overweight and shy. She also had an active imagination that leaned heavily towards anxiety. Her mother had once taken her on a walk on a summer evening, probably to encourage some sort of physical activity. But all Emma remembered from that night was the soft air, the raucous peep frogs, and the distant winking of the first night stars. She was hooked.

As a newly married woman, Emma discovered a conservation area near the new home she shared with her husband, and their dog. The conservation area had a river, and several miles of well maintained wooded paths. Emma soon found her favorite paths and she walked there nearly every day. 

What she loved most was the feeling that she got when she entered the woods. Three steps onto the leaf covered path, and her whole body relaxed like a big, cleansing sigh. The air in the woods felt different. It was clearer somehow. And Emma found that she felt more like herself when she walked in the woods than she did anywhere else.

Soon, she knew every tree, and every rock. She knew the location of all of the bird nests, and beaver dams. She even came to recognize the deer that grazed at the river's edge, and the hawks that sat in the biggest and oldest of the trees. She could identify the chittering of the squirrels, and knew the schedule of the beavers, who collected branches for their dams in early evening. 

Emma loved her time in the woods. The feeling of relaxation gradually changed to a feeling of acceptance. She felt a part of those paths, and that the paths made up parts of her, too. She sometimes mused that her footprints would become permanent features, like the smooth, concave pools in a cave that are created by years of constant, dripping water.

But life got busy, as life tends to do. Emma had kids now, and a busy job, and a house to maintain. She found it harder and harder to find time to walk in the woods. Her walks became sporadic, but she would always find her way back, especially if something important was happening in her life.

The first time she was away from her baby daughter, she went to the woods. Her husband suggested that she get some time to herself. She was only gone for 30 minutes, but she stopped by the river and cried. She cried because she was exhausted, and away from the tiny child that had become her whole world. The river took her tears, and she felt more herself on the short (but quick) walk back. 

Some months after that, Emma took a lock of hair from her daughter's first haircut to the woods. She placed the lock of hair in the cap of an acorn and placed it at the base of a tree by the river. She felt a little silly, but did it anyway. She asked the woods to keep her treasure, and in return, she picked up an old water bottle and an empty bag of chips, which she carried all the way home where she could dispose of them properly.

A new pattern emerged for Emma. She went to the woods when she could, carving time out of her busy life. She would sometimes bring a memento with her to leave in the woods. She brought her son's first lost tooth, which she tucked into a milkweed pod, and sent lazily down the river. She tucked petals from flowers that her husband gave her, just because, into a clump of wild buttercups. A tiny bit of fur from her daughter's favorite toy, and the shreds of her husband's ratty old t-shirt all made it to special places in the woods. And in this way, Emma left more of herself there. 

Things came home with Emma, too. Her family often teased her about her pockets, which were always filled with trash she picked up, or acorns, or leaves. But Emma liked to have bits of the woods with her when she couldn't be there. They made her happy. 

Time passed much too quickly. And before Emma knew it, she was bringing petals from her daughter's wedding bouquet, scattering the blue and yellow flowers over colorful leaves. She brought her grandson's first tooth, and fur from her dogs. She had left a lifetime of joy and happiness in those woods.