exploring

There is a creek across the street that really isn't ours. Recently we noticed the beavers were doing some big work over there and we just had to go explore. What was meant to be a quick peek, turned into almost two hours of exploring. There was so much to see. So many rocks to turn over, ripples to feel and tracks to admire.

Memories came flooding back as I watched my daughters delight in this place, this play, this discovery. With the sun glinting off the water just so and the pungent odor of creek mud on my hands I was transported. When I was a kid, especially in the spring, I couldn't wait to get off the bus to head down to the creek, or into the woods. Everything seemed so new, so fresh, so interesting. I was always so sure that I must be discovering, for the very first time, this secret soft grassy spot with filtered forest light or the carved out corner of creek where the water ran deep and clear. That no one but me had been there before. It was thrilling. It still kind of is.

This is what I dream about for our daughters. Hours of rock lifting, stone throwing, secret spot finding adventures. No adults allowed.

Hope you are getting some time out.