I have made a few enemies in my
life stating that there is nothing unnatural. This truth is so obvious and yet so
ire inducing to modern paradigms.
Be that as it may, I do like to
take a walk in the woods or on a beach… and separate myself from the present
dins and whatnot.
So I did, with my two sons, on
president’s day.
And it was glorious.
I got the idea the morning of
president’s day as I knew my wife would be out all day and I would have to come
up with things for us to do.
So when it became apparent that my
youngest wasn’t going to nap as he yelled “papa” for what felt like eight
hours, I coated, hatted, and gloved them up and told them “rule number one for
walking in the woods”:
Stay
close to papa
On the drive there I mentioned rule
number one again and quizzed them.
Stay
close to papa
We get there and my oldest darts
off like a dragon fly in heat.
Rule number one might as well have
been cruel cummerbund for all he cared.
Of course he finds himself in a
pricker bush and I have to get my little guy to come back and I ask my
eldest “are you in no man’s land?” I extricate him from the prickers and most
of the remainder of the walk was spent avoiding the bear-claw like horror of
the prickers. Never mind that the path is about six feet wide in most areas and
the prickers only lie at the edges.
My youngest won’t be three until
the end of march but he was such a trooper: running to catch up, never
complaining, and being an all-around joy with his curved, brittle walking stick.
My oldest was inquisitive, excited,
and steered clear of those prickers at every turn, straightaway, and reverse.
So maybe I don’t think there is
anything unnatural. Maybe you do. When you find a square circle, let me know.
In the meantime, I’m going to walk
in the woods with my boys, naturally.
