The woods and I had an unsteady relationship. There were times I loved it there and times I was terrified of it. For much of my childhood, I was afraid to go in there alone. I'm not sure why.* I'm also not sure it was a bad thing - it was the same forest that stood behind the County Jail a few miles down the road. As I grew older and I needed a calm place to be alone, I found solace in walking down to the river to a tree a bit off the path. It had a low-hanging branch that had grown almost like a seat and I'd sit there, letting the sound of the water calm my mind. It was my quiet space in this crazy world.
The woods wasn't always such a serious place for me, though. I spent much of my time having fun with my siblings. We'd walk or ride our bikes to the river and go fishing, pick wintergreen and then try to make tea out of it (it never worked, but we never stopped trying!), and pick blackberries. Lots and lots of blackberries. There were times we would head out with a five gallon bucket (or two!) and fill it up with blackberries. Through the years, we discovered different places in the woods that had mind-blowing amounts of blackberry bushes. We'd come back full of yummy goodness in our bellies and in our buckets...completely scratched from head to toe, but we really didn't care. The thorns never deterred us.
At one point during my childhood, the State decided to turn part of the forest into a Veteran's Cemetery. I understand now why they did it and it's a very noble thing to have. However, from a child's perspective, they were tearing down the best blackberry bushes - not to mention the homes of countless Lady Slippers! I got over it eventually - it was only a fraction of the woods and there were still lots of acres left to explore - which is how we discovered the swimming rock and rope swing.
The swim rock was a large rock that you could walk to out in the river. Depending on the depth of the river at any given time, sometimes you had to wade through some water-covered rocks, which could be a bit slippery, but it was worth it for that rock. On one side was maybe an inch or two of water. On the other side, a sheer 10 or so feet of water. Water so deep, you could dive off of it (though I never did). A little ways down river, there was a rope swing complete with a deck/ramp built into the river bank. Obviously, the rope swing wasn't a secret place because we didn't put the rope swing up - or build the deck. However, we rarely met anyone else there and had the place to ourselves most of the time. I never had the guts (or arm strength) to use the rope swing, but I still had fun spending time with people and swimming in the river.
I only hope that when The Husband and I buy a house, there is a place like The Woods nearby so my children will have the opportunity to enjoy as versatile a playground as I did.
*Actually, I lied. I do know why. When I was young, a group of my family and friends went to take a walk through the woods to the river. I had to stay behind for a little while and they told me to just come and catch up to them when I was ready. It was the first time I remember being in the woods alone and just as I came to a split in the path and hesitated because I wasn't 100% sure which way to go, a large bird (I think it was a Turkey, though it might have been more of a partridge-type bird...do we have those in NH?) decided that was a perfect time to take off from the ground into the trees above. Scared the living daylight out of me and I turned and ran home screaming. THAT is why I was afraid to go into the woods alone for the majority of my childhood.
