I went along for the ride when my second son drove out to his farm one night.? His offer came with a cup of coffee ready and waiting for me in the truck. Conversationcame easy and it was simply nice to get out of the city.??
It was when we took the turn off the main highway onto the long, gravel road that (eventually)leads to his farm, the gradual transformation started happening.??
We drove slowly and a person simply had time to appreciate the wide open space,new growthall around usand the solitude.??
It wasas we neared the intersection where we had to turn, that the wildlife started popping into my focus. I had been admiring the ducks swimming in the sloughs and had been looking for little ducklings, but it was just before we turned that the brilliant green head of a mallard duck grabbed my attention. I couldn't remember the last time that I had seen a mallard up close and personal.
We barely turned and there was a deer standing and looking rather forlorn in a field. My son told me "where there is one deer, there are others" and we looked. We never did see that deer's friends but my son told me something I didn't know before. One stag deer has several "concubines," and being ever wary of the hunter, the male hides in the bushes and sends out one of his does to see if the coast is clear, before he takes off into the clearing himself. Aha! This is the part of the story that Disney left out in Bambi. So that is what happened to Bambi's mother.
After that, all I seemed to notice was the wonder of life all around us.??
We wandered through my son's farm and I finally got to see all that he has been working at over the course of the past fall, winter and spring. He has demolished the house but led me to stand where the floor of the foundation is still intact. He said, "Look at this view." It was simple, but it was breathtaking. Wide open space, a freshly worked field, a slough and a smattering of bushes in and around the water. And it is his. We just stood there and stared.??
I stood back and looked at my son's farm and felt the attraction that he feels for that land. Space. Quiet. Nature. It is his future.??
We drove home and it was if the wildlife knew we were watching. The country birds are so unlike what I notice in the city. The mallards were everywhere. One was coming in for a landing just as we drove past. The Canada geese were not flying high up in the V formation that I notice from the city. They were cruising at much lower altitudes. They were home. ??
A pair of ducks were ambling across the gravel road as we slowly approached them. My son maintained the speed he was going and the ducks had time to continue their stroll. We drove right past them and they stayed on their side of the road. It wasas if they knew the rules of the land and that they were safely within their right to be on the opposite side of the road from us.??
The drive was so peaceful. Nature was showing us its finer moments. All we had to do was show up.??
We turned onto the busy, divided highway that took us home. The aura changed but it was still there. The wonder of the land around us was distant but you could still see and appreciate it.??
I told my son of the awe I felt when I watched the ocean. You could stare at it forever then suddenly "life" from the water would grab your attention and you felt at one with the world around you.??
As we drove home and I stared at the wide open spaces around us, I realized a person doesn't have to go on a cruise to appreciate what is all around us. You simply have to stop and take notice.
Mother Nature is right in our own back yard. There is no need to fly off to grand places to appreciate what we already have right here at home.
- Colleen Crawford is a 50-something mother of three boys who likes to write. She operates a daycare in her home and says she is fortunate enough to say, "I get to count ladybugs for a living!" She dabbles in ballroom dancing and loves to dance to the music of life. Sometimes it is as intense and serious as a tango, other times, it is fun and upbeat like the jive. She says she loves to waltz through her days and find precious little nuggets within each day as it comes. "I like to write life as I feel it and that is what this column is about."
