STOMP!
Finding the Prize
Do you remember all the fun you had as a kid walking up hill both ways to school? Yes, you might arrive late, but it was well worth it when there were all those perfect piles of leaves to stomp and crunch. And if you lived in cooler climates, like I did as a kid, you would remember on special days of the year racing from one puddle to the next, hoping to find that you were the first to get there and win the prize. The prize? Seeing and hearing and feeling the thin layer of ice break on that puddle. There was nothing like it.
Fast Forward
Fast forward quite a few decades, and I am now driving my own children to their schools. There are no hills around, but I’m sure their future memories will conjure up something like, “When I was a kid, we had 12 hours of homework to do every night!” (As an aside, I think my generation got the better end of that contest!)
Just Be
Back and forth and back and forth and … well, you get the idea of the daily routine. After dropping the girls off, I would occasionally stop at a nearby forest preserve. Sometimes I had my camera with me in my purse, stuffed in there after a weekend soccer game, but most of the time I just had my phone. My phone would have lists and calendar items reminding me of all that I had to get done before having to pick the girls back up from school. But for now, for a few moments, I would put my phone away and I would just be.
In the Dead of Winter
On a freezing day in the dead of winter after dropping off the girls, I again stopped at the forest preserve. I noticed some crazy Canadian geese that hadn’t migrated and were on shore, also taking in the sun as it came over the trees. However, on further inspection I wondered if maybe the geese were contemplating how long the water was going to last. Ice was being to form on the lagoons.
A Closer Look
I walked toward the edge for a closer look, realizing that a thin sheet of ice was actually over the entire lagoon. And then I looked straight down -- I saw it. I had gotten there first. The prize was there for the taking. I took it … with only my camera, of course, so that others could enjoy the beautiful ice striations swirling and imbedded amongst the twigs and rocks along the shoreline.
Heading Back Home
Wow! I just love those moments that are so unexpected. It’s like getting a gift when it’s not your birthday or any particular holiday. The natural beauty that’s hidden there among the dead and decaying leaves. And to think, I could have driven or walked right by as this display of beauty permanently melted away.
Final Steps
And then, as I was almost to my car ….