A mini Forest close to Home

There is a forest close to where I live. It’s a small forest that I have wandered through since childhood. Once while walking to school, I walked into a tree - must have been a portent of my future? Mom couldn’t figure out what happened to my face when I got home from school. Well, I was prone to daydreaming and the tree got in my way. I’m sure she wondered what she was going to do with her absentminded child.

Being that I didn’t move very far from my childhood home I was able to walk my children through the same woods, showing them the different bark of trees and telling them the story of where all the leaves go during the winter, that the worms, living in the ground, use the leaves to make a sleeping bag to keep them warm in the cold months.

Now, at the same school I went to and my children too, I was able to walk my granddaughter Maeve through the little enchanted forest to school. She insisted that just Grandpa take her without Mom. Maeve told me on our journey to school that at a birthday party Quinny, a friend, let here use a magic wand and in an enchanted forest you can make magic. I was hoping the magic would be good magic. The tree I walked into as a child is now gone and I told Maeve maybe I knocked it over when my head hit it long ago. Being a smart young person I’m sure she didn’t believe me.

This walk I took with Maeve was so very special and I will remember forever. Maeve will grow up being strong and beautiful like her Mom and I am glad she let me walk her to school, just the two of us, through the same woods I walked through many years ago.

The forest I walked though all those years ago is still there and I was able to share it with a grandchild. Thank you trees for staying tall, giving wildlife life and human memories a chance to live on.

PS, I still daydream but I try to keep trees out of my path.