Finding One's Way ...

Yankees....  No, I'm not referring to the baseball team.  

I come from a very long line of Yankees, New Englanders from way back.  Given that, I was raised by and around people who find their bearings and never give up, ever.  

During the summer between my first and second grade year, my parents and I moved from one "city" to another.  Our new home rested beside a park, a huge and wild park with trees and trails for cross-country skiing and whatnot.  My father, having grown up trudging through the woods of New England with his father, uncles, etc..., couldn't wait to introduce me to my new surroundings.  

At first, we just went for walks through the woods and along the trails and roads.  Then, after having gone on a few walks, he asked me what I'd noticed.  What I noticed...?  What had I noticed?  


Uhhh....

My father looked at me, much like my grandfather looked at me in the driveway the night he introduced me to Orion.  A silent and serious look. 

"Shannon, today we start your training."

"Training?"

"In becoming a pilgrim...."

For some reason, my father was obsessed with the pilgrims when teaching me life's lessons.  Of course, today, he says he doesn't ever remember mentioning the pilgrims. Well, ....  He did!

He showed me the different trees, pointing out the leaves and their differences.  Maples. Oaks.  Birches.  Poplars.  On subsequent walks, he taught me how to find "sign" and identify the tracks of different animals.  Deer.  Rabbits.  Squirrels.  Chipmunks.

Those first few months in our new home passed.  The leaves changed from green to red and gold; finally, snow fell.  After a heavy snow, white weighing down the boughs of the trees and silence blanketing the woods, my father asked if I wanted to go on an adventure. 

Uhhh…. 

“Come on!  Get suited up!”

We got “suited up” and went out into the woods on snowshoes.  We walked for what felt, literally, like forever!  Of course, I was only seven.  We trudged and trudged and trudged through those woods. 

Finally, I asked, “Dad!  When are we going to have our adventure?”

“Now,” he said.  “You need to find a pine tree, a maple tree, a white birch, a golden birch, and a poplar.  You also need to find the sign of one animal, track it for a time, and tell me what kind of animal made that sign.  After you do that, you need to guide us home.”

It’s then that I adopted my elders’ silent and serious stares as my own. 

I stood and starred at my father. 

“You can start anytime, Shannon.”

I turned and scanned the scene before me, woods for as far as the eye could see, hundreds of trees. Of all of those many trees, only the pines had “leaves” ….

:o

I swear, I felt like the woods would swallow me whole.  I didn’t know where we were, and I couldn’t identify the trees without their leaves, and … and … and ….

“What’s wrong, Shannon?”

“THE TREES DON’T HAVE LEAVES!  I can’t…”

“This is phase two of your training.  Pilgrims don’t give up.  Ever.  Now, let’s think this through.  What tree can you find?”

“Ummmm….  A pine.” 

“Good, let’s go!  Take me to a pine.”

After I did that, my father asked me to think about another tree I could find, even though it didn’t have leaves.

“The birch trees!”

Off we went.  Then, I was stumped. 

“If you can’t find a maple or poplar by their leaves, how might you be able to figure out which is which?”

Tick, tock ….

“Their bark, Shannon.  Let’s go.”

After my tutorial on all things bark, I found sign.  If I remember correctly, it was a chipmunk’s tracks.  I was not excited.  I always wanted to find deer or rabbit tracks.  Then, it was time to go home. 

Home!  Panic set in.  He said I had to find our way home! 

“Think, Shannon.  Even if you don’t know where we are right now, how can you figure out how to get us out of here and get home?”

Panic, panic, panic….

“Think about tracking the chipmunk.”

Panic, panic, panic….

A pilgrim never gives up, I thought ….

Ummm….

Honestly, I can’t remember if I said it or my father said it.  But, one of us yelled, “Our snowshoe tracks!”

Sigh….  Yes, I got us out of those woods and home.  I’m pretty sure my father rewarded me with a cup of cocoa; if he didn’t, he should have! 

And, I ….  Well, I learned giving up is never an option.  One can always find a way, one way or another.


Copyright 2013 -> Shannon