Paths

Blue Skies and Warm Weather came to visit us yesterday. We put on short sleeves and mud boots and ran out to greet them like long lost friends. They beckoned us into the woods with the distant call of our thawed out creek. It had been too long since we ventured on our trails. We, in fact, had never traveled on them as a family of three.  I had taken my children hundreds of times by myself in the 13 years that we've owned this land, but not once in the last two years. I had my reasons... But yesterday we returned! The wild roses and black cap brambles had grown thick... 

But they were no match for my son and his loppers! He cleared the trail, while his mother and sister scampered, slogged, and climbed behind him. Even the cat came. It was a long process, but every step of the way was savored as we followed a path so loved and deeply known. Memories clung to branches... And we added some new ones. 

And when we arrived? We jumped into that icy spring water, of course! Here's to clearing paths...