My Little Adventure

After dinner I decided I wanted to take a walk, so I did. I walked down the Mayfield stairs to the basement and went out the back door, humming a hymn to myself. Instead of taking the road, which would have been too easy, I walked down the trail behind Mayfield. Hard rocks ground in my feet, and I had to watch my step to be sure I didn't step on any really sharp ones. The trail led downhill to the baseball diamond. I carried my chinelos in one hand and let myself walk very slowly, savoring the feeling of thick green grass against my bare feet. I have discovered that a great way to feel at home is to get my feet really dirty.
   
 I crisscrossed through the grass by the intramural fields and ventured into a patch of sweet smelling white flowers. The act of plucking them off their stems in bunches and burying my nose in them brought back beautiful memories of flowers at home. I gathered a bulky bouquet and kept walking. When I reached the rugby fields, I turned my head so that the setting sun shone in full force on my eyelids. I opened my eyes and looked up at the trees above me. When I saw movement, I stopped and peered upwards before I realized that there would not be any monkeys up there, only birds.                                

I reached the creek, and left my shoes behind (even though I hadn't been wearing them to begin with anyway) along with my flowers. I crossed over using a swing, feeling a lot like Leslie and Jess must have when they crossed over into Terabithia. A tree that had fallen over the creek caught my eye. I walked towards it, pushing branches with thorny arms out of my way.


I am going to climb up this huge root system and sit out there over the water, I told myself.

And I did. It took a while, and wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. At one point I was suspended over the water, holding on to a bunch of very dirty roots while trying to make a foothold for myself. I succeeded, though. I walked across the trunk of the tree, kicking off pieces of old bark and watching the ripples they made.

I found a good branch to lean up against, and then I watched little tadpoles swim in the creek while spiders skittered back and forth across its surface. I leaned over and saw a murky reflection of my face framed by dark green algae. I felt the weight of school lift from me. In fact, I barely thought about school. All the questions that I had planned on asking God faded away. I started remembering again how much I like being outside, and about how half the fun of going for a walk is never  knowing what I might find. Today, for example, I found a little adventure in climbing the back of a tree and walking across a creek. I rediscovered my awe of God's creativity.

If all of that can happen on a walk, I can't wait to have another adventure tomorrow.