You Share More Than Your Woods

Back again. Nothing seems different here yet so much is changing. When we first started visiting these woods our kids were babies. You would lead the way with the youngest carried like precious cargo on your back. I always walked behind ''assuring their safety''. I watched our little girls as their pigtails bobbed up and down with their excited trots trying to ''keep up with Dad''. They would stop now and then to poke at a log or flip over a rock and I would scoot them along so we didn't get too far behind you. With each year they've changed so much. They're now young adults yet they still walk in a line as you lead them down this familiar path. They could find their way through these woods blindfolded. But they walk behind you and listen as you explain the tracks, the trails, and the wonders of nature that you have explained to them every year of their lives. They listen as if they've never heard it before. I wonder if they're really listening to the lesson on nature or are they just enjoying hearing the sound of your voice as you share your woods with them once again.