walk in the woods – Wendy L. Macdonald

It’s not very often I can walk with our oldest son on a nature trail. Normally he is just way too fast for me and I don’t want to slow him down. He is very thoughtful and will wait patiently for me.

But this week his knee was bothering him, but he still wanted to go for a walk in the woods. It is what gives him the most joy in life besides music.

So, my husband and I went with him to a local park one evening. My son had suggested I bring my camera. Yeah! Permission to click away to my heart’s content…

Our other two children chose to stay at home this time.

It brought back memories – walking just the three of us. When our oldest was a toddler he was already showing his love of nature. ( He warned me not to get any closer to the nest on the tree in this photo… I guess his rock hurling days are over – thankfully!)

We’d be simply walking the driveway of our former acreage and it would take us forever as he examined and scrutinized every rock, stick, and leaf along the way.

Now, here we are with our son waiting as I enthusiastically capture every rock, stick, and leaf with the camera lens. The table’s turned.

I am embarrassed to admit that he is more gracious than I usually was… He loves his camera, too, and so he understands how my moccasins feel.

On the way back to our vehicle the tables turned again as I took fewer pictures and needed to wait for our hobbling son.

He has had surgery once on this knee and his recent hike up and down a local mountain seems to have aggravated it. We may need to visit that specialist again…

I may need to visit the specialist, too, if my hip doesn’t settle down!

At least, living in Canada, I won’t have to mortgage our house to do it… but we do try to limit our use of the medical system to only necessary visits. I tend to take this a bit too far concerning my own health. An ostrich comes to mind.