96 minutes alone in the woods

No - it's not my kids newest stunt (but I think it should be).

The opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance. I can think of few others things I'd rather do than take a good long walk in the woods.

Although the parking lot was filled with cars, I never encountered another person during my walk. No one spoke to me, I didn't speak to anyone and my favorite parts were when the gravel path gave way to hard, cracked mud that silenced even my own footsteps. I am certain that I am transformed to another time and place with all the shade speckled light, extra oxygen and the screams for a distant, hunting hawk.

I have very little time that I am not in the presence of my children. We have designed our life purposefully that way and I enjoy it. Rarely, I find myself needing some time alone, and I find more often than not I am escaping my own voice than that of my kids. I walked and prayed for quite some time. I can think of no better place, for me personally, to connect with the Divine.

I did have to fight the thoughts, "oh, the kids would love this!" as if we haven't walked this path 10 times together before and I didn't have a camera phone with me!

Thanks, Mother Nature for the snacks, they were awesome!

The trails that I was walking are particularly well-marked and I could not resist a detour to something called 'the dance floor' on the map. It sounded so intriguing.

Yes, that's all there was, and yes, I did.

I walked intentionally thinking about what the path said about life. What's around that corner? Are those boards all safe? How much longer will this part go on?

In the woods I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders, I feel something tugging at my heart, I feel like someone is speaking to me. I think I know Who it is.