A Walk in the Woods
I have happy places...yes, that is what i call them. Because in those places I feel truly happy and at peace with the universe. Hokey, well, so what.
My happy places are always and ever outdoors. I love to walk in the woods and fields. My grandparents lived in Northern Wisconsin - a place of unbelievable peace and beauty - at least to me. I spent many many a summer day wandering the forest, sitting near the dam on the river, listening to the birds, and creatures, and the sound of the water gently flowing, a fish jumping to catch a water bug, the buzzing of the bees busily collecting pollen from the wildflowers on the bank (ok, there were the occasional cars going by on the bridge overhead, but the bridge was old and the hum was not too distracting and sometimes kind of nice). The smells there...unbelievable, sun warmed greenery and the odors of the lake - fish and fern, a slight diesel smell from grandpa's boat motors, wood smoke. Ah, and the sight...the sun dappled reflections of water under the bridge, the pines swaying in a warm breeze, the slight funnel caused by the dam pulling the lake into the river, the dragon flies and their drowsy flight, the minnows gathered at the bottom of the dam, and the old dam itself - red and rusty, kept by my grandpa with loving hands...the high banks covered in tall grasses and wildflowers - the indian paintbrush, daisy, clovers. The cool depths of the forest.
As I drive north of Wausau Wisconsin suddenly it smells truly different to me. It is like a soft covering descends, and you are in an older place. It is a mix of pines, lake, fresh CLEAN air, green and growing things...oh, how to explain? And the sky...oh it surely looks different there. I can almost transport myself there in my mind...And too I think a great part of the peace of this place is that it is where my family was...i KNEW that this was my piece of the planet, that it is where I belonged heart and soul. Where I was meant to be. I feel it in my whole being. The rightness of it. To be there makes my heart sing.
