Once Upon A Time, Many Years Ago....
So Many Stories Start This Way But I Will Spare You. It's A Story, And A True One At That. As You Can Tell, The Date Of This Blog Is February. Recently We Have Been Having Above Normal Temperatures For This Time Of Year. Even Though The Month Of December And January Were Brutal With Snow And Bitter Cold Temperatures, Anything With A Hint Of Spring Is Welcoming. Just Two Weeks Ago I Saw A Flock Of Robins In The Front Yard Of A School. What's That Suppose To Represent? It Was The First Week Of February. The Week That Followed Delivered Temperatures In The 50's.
There May Be Something Those Robins Knew That I Didn't. So What's My Point?
My Point Is Since We Are Beginning To See Signs Of Old Man Winter's Departure, My Mind Drifts To Memories Of Springs Past. I Usually Spend The Month Of March Walking. My Body Needs The Walking After A Winters Hibernation And A Gain Of About 15 Pounds. The Walking Gets Me Back In Shape So I Can Get In And Out Of My Truck. So I Can Walk The Distance In The Woods In Search For The Morel Mushroom. This Mushroom Has Only One Season. The Month Of April When The Lilac Blooms.
I Began Taking Bobby Mushroom Hunting When He Was Just Old Enough To Walk. These Hunts Gave Us The Opportunity For Father/Son Time. No Matter What Was Going On In Our Lives, We Would Always Look Each Other Up And Make Time For Our Annual Together Time. I Don't Think It Really Had Anything To Do With Mushrooms, But Just The Time We Made For One Another. Of Course We Would Enjoy Some Mushrooms In The Bottom Of Our Mesh Bag. If Not, There Is Always Tomorrow.
What If There Was No Tomorrow? I Think You Know Where I Am Heading With This. Yes, Another "First" Is Fast Approaching And In A Painful Kind Of Way I Must Get Through This. I Don't Want To Be Selfish By Ignoring This Special Season And Pretend It Never Existed. Denying It, Takes Away The Special Memories We Shared.
In Order For Me To Get Through This Special Father/Son Event I Must Take Baby Steps. I Can't Just Grab My Mesh Bag And Enter The Woods Without My Son. This Has Been A 25 Year Tradition For Us.
Let Me Tell You About The Time Bobby And I Have Been In The Woods For A Couple Hours. We Had About 30 Minutes Left Before Darkness. I Would Hoist Him Up On My Shoulders As We Walked Through The Woods Toward The Truck. So I Thought. The Unfortunate Thing About Mushroom Hunting Is Your Head Is Always Looking Down To The Ground. It Was Easy To Get Turned Around And Not Be Sure Which Way Was Which. Bobby Asked Me If We Were Lost. I Assured Him The Truck Was Not Far Away. The Truth Of The Matter Was, We Were Indeed Lost. However Being Lost Wasn't Necessarily A Bad Thing. Along The Way We Seen A Mother Deer And A Doe. The Deer Was A Distraction Of The Reality Of Being Lost. It Gave Us Memories That Would Last A Lifetime. I Asked Him Last Spring If He Remembered That Moment. Surprisingly He Did, And Him Remembering Being On My Shoulders Confirmed It.
This Brings Me To The Mighty Elm. There Were Times When Bobby Would Venture Into The Woods When I Was Too Busy. He Began Hunting A Stretch Of Woods I Wasn't Familiar With. Bobby Hunted This Stretch Every Chance He Had. He Would Tell Me How Well He Did Or How Badly He Did. He Knew Mushroom Hunting Was Never A Guarantee. He Did Share With Me Though About Always Finding A Patch Around This Tall Elm Tree. There Was Never A Year That Went By He Didn't Score Near That Tree. One Day He Took Me There. He Shared His Special Hunting Ground With The One Who Taught Him How To Hunt. Just The Thought Makes Me Smile.
The Baby Steps I Was Referring To Revolves Around This Mighty Elm. This Year's Mushroom Season I Will Only Hunt Around This Tree. My Find Will Be Transplanted On Bobby's Grave. I Really Don't Have The Desire To Hunt Without My Son. Maybe I Will Find Peace In My Plan For This Season. If I Don't, I Will Always Have The Memories.
Memories Are Gods Gift That Death Cannot Destroy.
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