I suggested we take a new route which turned out to go in a direction we didnt want to go, so we decided to go off trail. Or, I decided. The boys were a little nervous as this was totally new area, plus the snow cover unfamiliarity on top of that. You really feel lost in broad daylight. But, it was an opportunity to think differently about being in the woods, to think about the land and surroundings and not the visible trail. We stopped, talked about what aspects of the forest there we do know: a stream. Okay, then, how to we find a stream? We walk downhill. We did, and found a stream, and lots of animal tracks where something was looking for a good place to cross the stream. But this wasnt our stream. So maybe this stream meets up with the one we know. The one we know is bigger… so what should we do? Follow it more, downhill. And so on… and it was so fun to see them in that moment of transition between when everything was unfamiliar and boom, here we are, at the stream we know, with the bridge and the boulders! And look, here are the footprints again, so this must be the trail!
So fun to watch this happen. All the while they were asking questions like " what if we can't find the car?", "do you have your phone so we can call a police officer?", "how much snacks do we have?" "Do you know where we are?" and so on… They did not realize you could actually see houses from where we were. Once they knew where we were, they wanted to have their snacks immediately.
Sitting, quiet, in that silence, on that white, under that blue, I noticed we were all watching a chickadee tumble around on a cluster of dead leaves, foraging. From nowhere Heath asked Alder what he thought God was. Alder described a man, with a beard, who "is huuuge", up in the sky. Alder returned the question to Heath and Heath described pretty much the same thing but added that God knows "all the magic". We talked about how they both have similar pictures of God, both in some human form, larger than life, up above everything, controlling, strong, old, good. Then more silence, I waited and then, yes, they asked me what I thought God looked like. I have no idea. I just like to think that bits of God are in everything - this snow, that beech bark, that chickadee, that blue sky, and you, and you. And then Alder said - and I dont know what to make of this and in a way I sort of wish he wouldnt have said this, but he did - "Ah, I wish I would have said that". I remember the big old man with a beard image too. Where do we get this?
And then a border collie came by, so eager with its owner to have sticks thrown. We talked to her, NOT asking about God, though that would have been so awesome to lay that on her. We talked about a book we must have read the boys a thousand times: "Going on a bear hunt". The dog in the book looked and acted just like the one we met. We havent looked at that book in at least two years, but they were able to dredge it up from memory.
Nearly to the car, we noticed the oaks that Mommy likes to point out, looking like people upside down, stuck in the ground, legs sticking up. But today, they were wearing underwear. Alder wanted to talk about their butt, which was really big on one side. Not sure what Heath is up to...
