A Walk in the Woods

Today,  I took a walk through the woods to track down migratory ducks.   I was alone and not a person to be seen which made the day perfect.  No agendas, no deadlines, and not a problem to be solved. Just a simple walk in the woods.
I started smiling.  There is a calm that finds me in the woods.  My constantly churning mind slows down and my stressors wash a way like a fallen leaf in a babbling brook.  All my senses merge into one as I interpreted the splendor of nature.
I smiled as I thought about my first memories of just walking through the woods with my Dad in the Ashtabula River glacier cut gulf.  We stopped drank hot chocolate and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I dropped my sandwich and watch it float away in the clear stream.   Many dads would have chewed on their son for being careless.  My dad simply lovingly spilt his sandwich with me.
Fifty years of cool fall days have come and gone since my Dad and I took that walk in the woods.  I am forever grateful for a father who taught his sons how to appreciate the splendor of the outdoors and to leave only our footprints behind.  Today, I smiled as I walked through the woods.  I found a downed tree and sat looking out at the calm blue water.  I looked over and for just the time it takes for a oak leaf to twirl to the ground I could see my Dad smiling and sitting next to me.  

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