The Perfect Mother's Day

I was very excited to spy this guy!

Tadpoles

When I read Where the Red Fern Grows I couldn't believe there were places ferns grew wild.
Every time I see them now, it seems a little miracle.

While some may prefer breakfast in bed, or going out to brunch for a mother's day gift, when my boy suggested we go for a hike, I was thrilled!  I had dog-eared some pages in my hiking books so long ago I had forgotten why I had marked them, so I paged back through and made a few haphazard projections about where to go.  I was too tired and busy to plan well.  How about this one, I said, or this?  Ultimately taking a gamble on the smaller one the afternoon we set out.

I feared it would be a dull little path, or worse, one that led to a view overlooking a highway.  Having been raised in the wilds of the American west, I realize I carry maybe too much scorn for what the Southeast has to offer in the way of wilderness.  But this day, I was not disappointed!

The trail was diverse and the company ace.  We all like a meandering pace, one that allows us to turn over stones and peer at small flowers and insects.  We spied a kingfisher early on, a teenie baby snapping turtle, bright exotic dung beetles, salamanders, and something I think was a wild orchid.  We joked and told stories.  And once, when I was by myself in shade so heavy it felt like nighttime, I got that creepy woods feeling of being watched, something I remember from many hikes I took as a child.  We used to scare each other then, with talks of bears or wildcats or escaped lunatics.

I think though, that it may be just the souls of the forest life itself.  Not to get all New Age-y--but someone somewhere said that the earth is an Indian thing.  I don't mean to say I understand what that means exactly, but somehow, to me, it is about the trees and rocks and winds in the woods having souls.  Maybe those eerie moments in a woods have something to do with our mortal brevity in the face of the earth's--or nature's--connection with inconceivable time.  I mean, look at the stones in the river.  How old are they?  When did they last move?

Time in the woods gets me thinking like this.  Which is a good. 

I kept thinking all day how much my boys were enjoying themselves, how my oldest one had suggested this, how his girl friend too was keen on the outdoors--and I felt content.  One of my goals as a mother was to give my children the gift of the world--the beauty of the world.  And you know, as a mother, you show your kids the things you value and love, and you hope they will take a little something from it and carry it into their lives--and often you'll never know. But that day I realized that they'd gotten what I'd given, and that was really, the best mother's day--the best every day--gift of all.