“Stop. Hey what’s that sound?”

Posted on October 15, 2011 Updated on October 15, 2011

I walked in the park the other day, alone.  I wanted to take photos but my camera’s battery was dead.  The only camera I had was in my phone.  Usually I take my dogs with me as my protectors, but I didn’t have the right harnesses.  I felt a strong desire to walk in the woods.  It was a beautiful day and I was afraid to waste it.  So I went alone.

I walked up the stairs, all 100+ of them.  I was winded.  It was beautiful.  I was alone.  Sitting there catching my breath, taking in the fall colors of the tree tops below, and then all of a sudden I got scared.  Just me,  alone, at the brink of a huge cliff  next to the never ending woods.  Not a soul in sight.

What crossed my fearful mind, after all the horrific scenarios, was that I should think like an Indian Squaw.  Hold on….I have to look up “squaw” because I don’t really know what it means.  Well… that was more than I needed to know.  I guess I need to know, but I didn’t know the bad meaning until I looked for the regular meaning.

I recovered from the stairs and started my hike.  I began telling myself to “stop it, don’t let your fear win, just enjoy.”  So I walked for awhile up until the moment I noticed freshly pressed large foot prints in the mud.  I froze stiff in my steps and listened.  I listened hard.  I wanted to hear those footsteps if they were out there.   I tried to imagine that if I heard foot steps that I could locate the origin of them as quickly as a native Squaw.

Sigh….

I calmed myself down.  Which was no small task.  But still I wanted to locate something by sound alone.  I wanted to be keen, keenly aware.

I continued on, hearing only my own footsteps.   I stopped again.  It was really quiet.  Finally I  heard a bird, a large bird, an owl or something up in the trees.  I tried to locate it, but as I walked on the sound bounced, appearing to move.  Being keen is not that easy.

The voice I heard had a soft mellow earthy tone, relaxed.  I have no idea what kind of creature it was, I never saw it.   It sounded blissfully content, high above me in the seemingly empty quiet woods and that was enough for me.

All this on an indiscernible Thursday from a simple walk in the park, alone.

Tip: Keep your batteries charged.

Inspiration: “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.”  ~Rosa Parks

One-day one-thing: Wake-up your senses; step outside and do something alone.