Christy and I had grown up in these woods. We used to build forts made from alumnium and old wooden boards; anything we could scrounge up. I remember one time (my older son is standing here, incredulous that Mommy is actually writing again. He wants to tell you guys all about the horror movies he is going to make some day...lol) Anyway, Nanny, Christy and I decided to go walking in the woods and ended up walking almost all the way to town. Grandaddy was not amused. I think we were gone about four hours, but we explored unknown territory that day and trespassed on someone else's property a little too. Grandaddy didn't own all those woods, but he owned a good part. We limped back, muddy as all get out, and scratched up, but smiling as well. It was fun to go walking with Nanny. She was the best grandmother ever.

Fast forward to 2005.... Christy and I had decided to go walking by ourselves and was having a nice relaxing time in the woods. I won't bore you with what we did, but basically we followed the creek until dusk fell. And fall it did. We decided to go back the way we usually went....straight up the ridge. A big mistake. Now a mountain there (or as Grandaddy says, "a big hill") is easy for a kid to climb...it's mostly pine trees, dogwoods, and other small trees, hardly any impediments to climbing. An adult who is out of shape is another matter. We started up the muddy hill full of energy, I was leading the way. Christy warned me not to climb so fast, but I didn't listen. I was having too much fun! I was home in Alabama! Even if it was only for a couple of days.

A forth of the way up, I was breathing rather heavily. The woods weren't as I remembered them being. For one thing, most of the big pines were gone. Grandaddy had it all cut for lumber about seven years ago, so all that had come back were the hardwoods and lots and lots of brambles, or sticker bushes as Nanny calls them. It gets a little darker.

A big boulder up ahead, leaning against a bluff. We decide the easiest way to continue up is to climb the boulder and then step onto the bluff. OK, that was easier than we thought it would be, but by that time it was really getting dark. Now being in the woods after dark without a flashlight is about the dumbest thing anyone can do and we were ahead of the class there. We bumbled through briars, through thickets of small trees, through a muddy stream, up some more of the damned mountain until I couldn't go anymore. I sat there, in the falling darkness, and found myself so happy at being there that I almost cried. I had such a feeling of contentedness. Sitting there on the side of a ridge in Alabama, in my home woods, was the best place I could have been at that moment. I was at peace.