This Land is Your Land

I love when a new activity crops up that the kids and I want to do over and over repeatedly. Right now that activity is taking walks in the fields above our house. I don't know why we hadn't done this much sooner! Steve has been mowing a path to our back field for over a year now. I admit, I thought it was kind of silly at first. Not any more.

As soon as we finish lunch, we put on our boots and coats (if needed) and head out back. The chorus of crickets is mesmerizing. Bumblebees fly from one late summer wildflower to another, and the occasional grasshopper jumps across our path.

The hill is the hardest part for the kids. It seems soooo big to them, that I find myself saying: "We're almost at the top! You're doing a good job!" more often then not. As we reach the summit, the path meanders around a few bends, and then we find ourselves in the shade of a small part of the forest.

We step out of the forest into one of the fields that our ancestors tended to for so long. A few blueberry bushes from those days remain, but right now the field is full of goldenrod and ferns. The path is a straight shot through the middle, and the kids run down it in delight.

"This is yours", I whisper to Rosie and Buddy, even though they can't hear me. "This is your land, my land, dad's land. Before that, it was grampa's land, and his mom's land, and her dad's land, etc. May you always consider this your home, whether you're living here or on the other side of the earth."

I stop to breathe in the refreshing air, taking in all the notes of earth that fill my senses. I hear a plane flying overhead in the brilliant blue sky, and the kids' shrieks as they act out a pretend world complete with dragons and castles. I drop down in the grass beside them and let the sun warm my face.

This is life and it is good.