Around the Next Bend

Yesterday I was able to literally walk down memory lane with my Daddy as well as introduce my daughter and husband to a part of my childhood.

In the Spring and Fall months between when it was too cold to swim and snow had not yet fallen my dad would take me and my three younger brothers every Sunday afternoon to the trail to give my mother an afternoon of peace from all us lot.  There we explored nature, got really muddy and came home tired and ready for bed.

Usually when we went there I would be out front for the trail winds and bends through forests, up hills, following rivers and you never know what to expect around the corner. At the start the desire to explore and see just what was around the bend captivated me and I would push to see more and more of the trail that I was unable to see before. As time went on (and my brothers could go father) we had a particular spot where we always turned around, for no matter how long we went to explore, we always had to transverse the same distance back to the car. It was then that I learned a great lesson.

There is a need and a desire in all of us to explore, to see what is around the next bend.  It calls to us it tantalizes us. Yet once we turn that bend there is another in front of us.

It can be so easily to miss the journey when we are bent to see what is ahead.

The Seaton Trail has a lot to offer and a lot of different views.  The air is clear and the trail is easy to see, and easy to transverse (as long as you make sure a tree root does not catch you by surprise).  It is a place that can slow your heart, gladden your spirit with views of nature and captivate your imagination.  It is a place of tranquility, of rest, and of exploration and adventure. Yet in the rush of knowing what is around the next bend that can be easily lost.

This trail also gives you two paths to take in different places. One hard and quicker, one easier and longer, depending on how you see it.  There was one part where the red path would take you to a very steep hill, the yellow would take you up and around in a crisscross way up the back way of the hill.  Another part the yellow path would take you close to the river or through a wood that looked very different from what you had previously seen.  Each choice of taking one way or the other would mean that you would miss the other way, and sometimes one or the other had things that were of great interest for a child, sometimes both did.  So in the choosing of the one path, you lost the choice of the other.

The joy of going every Sunday was that we learned that trail by the back of our hands.  We walked both routes  and then followed the most enjoyable and diverse of each of the trails (or I did since I was the one ahead.)  This would help challenge us physically and mentally in the changes of trail from one bend to the next.

There was also many smaller trails that jettison offed the two main trails.  This was also what I loved being the oldest, as well as my brother underneath me.  We both could go off one of these trails to find where it lead, and if it lead to a dead end we could call out and my dad and the twins did not need to go far on the road that lead nowhere, yet it was very satisfying to allow the imagination settle from one trail to another from the curiosity and wonder of what was around the bend, to the knowledge of that trail lead to a dead end, therefore was not worth the time and you could continue on the real trail, and what you might see.

One of the joys of this trail was that you got to know it so well, and yet because it was nature it was always new in one way or another.  Trees leaves change color, and then lose them.  How the forest looked in the Spring was different from the Fall. One year a tree would be erect, the next it would be fallen over the trail and you needed to climb over it.  One year vines would be too small to hold us (so we could swing like Tarzan), the next year the vines might be perfect to swing, the next year the snow and ice made the vine snap so we could not use that anymore. Some days brought disappointment, other brought joy in finding something new.

Once we learned the trail it was never boring.  There was always joy in the knowledge of what was coming, the enjoyment of taking the time to get there.

It was wonderful to watch my daughter on this trail.  Though I could not see her eyes her body seemed to be quivering with excitement of the newness of the trail, the forest and the desire to see what was around the next bend.  Though I hope that she will learn what I did as I traversed this trail, the enjoyment of the journey is more important than what is around the next bend.