The Great Outdoors

Most folks don't realize the importance of being out in the wilderness.  The peace and quiet that can be enjoyed in nature is unlike any other kind of serenity.  It helps to bring the rest of the world into perspective.  It also shows the kind of respect we need to have for everything.  Mother nature has her own way of showing us how insignificant we really are in the bigger picture of life.  In society we may be an important person.  In our families we may be an important person.  In every other respect of life we may have some kind of significance.  To mother nature though, you are just another animal that can live or die.  You are just food for something else.  You are responsible for yourself and whether you come back or not.  Most of us in the "real world" have lost contact with that inner animal instinct.  That's not to say that we have to lose our humanity for that kind of basic instinct.

I have a real connection with the outdoors.  I have been an outdoors-man for many many years now.  As soon as I was able to get out on my own in the forest, that's where I have always enjoyed being.  I can remember as a child roaming the Bankhead forest on my grandpa's land.  As I grew up I learned about camping, hunting, fishing, and hiking.  I learned that just being out there "in it" brought me more comfort and joy.  The other thing I learned was that mother nature will provide you with what you need.  You just have to know how to find it.  I also learned that you had better be prepared when you go out there.  Mother nature doesn't care if you are prepared or not and will not have mercy on you either way.

The other thing about mother nature is the magical experience that I get when I am part of her.  The experience is an energy that can transcend a mere mortal feeling and seem other worldly.  Sitting in the forest can give you a sublime peace that nothing else can compare too.  I have felt the blinding effect of pure energy that the woods can emit.  It's a hair raising experience if you open your soul to her song that she will pluck on your heart strings.  The simplest song from a bird can lift your spirit from a bottomless pit of gloom to a pearly gate in front of a golden street.  It's always there if you let it speak to you.  It doesn't take any kind of special ability to hear the intimate message that she will speak to you if you allow her voice to be heard.  The trick, if that's what you want to call it, is to be calm, relax, and open your feelings to the mystical journey that is waiting for your first step.  It's the journey that some of us wait a lifetime to experience and it's the simplest thing to do, and yet we try so many complicated things to just get to it.  Open your heart and see what the creatures of the forest have to say to you.  They are like a choir that each has a part to sing in a concert that is better if enjoyed in the presences of gods.  If you are ready to experience the simple things in life that the outdoors has to offer, then the choice is truly easy, just step outside.

Drivel

My wife is always telling me that I am so far behind in my blogging, that the stuff I blog about is out of date.  This may be true, but it’s the way I get things done.  I like to think about whatever it is I’m writing about before I start spouting off.  I’m may have to do some research on the topic to figure out what’s already being said about a topic, and also to try and gather the facts about something before I comment about it.  I know that sometimes I go off half-cocked about stuff, but normally I like to think I make educated and thoughtful blogs about whatever topic.

This may not be one of those times.  I’m thinking that this will just be a non-coherent mish mash of different “stuff.”  I really have wanted to blog for a whole week now, but haven’t had the opportunity due to work, sickness, and other worldly business.  Here goes an attempt to push my whole week and then some into this one blog.  I also don’t want my blog to be “just” political, so outside of maybe one thing, this one will just be just about me and mine.  Surprisingly this may not take as much time or space as I’m thinking it should take.

This week has pretty much been in the crapper due to a whole lot of situations in the world today.  On the family front, we've all been sick in some form or another.  My son has had the flu all week long.  It started out on Sunday evening, with a high fever and messed up stomach.  By Monday morning at 3am and by the way that’s the time I get up to go to work, his temp was back to normal. My wife let him stay home due to just general not feeling well.  When Tuesday rolled around and his temp kept going up and down she decided to let him stay home again, but knew he would have to go to the doctor for missing more than the one day.  That’s when we discovered that he actually had the flu.  At that point everybody else just kind of went downhill.  Our little girl started getting some of his symptoms but never really started running a fever.  The wife and I just got to feeling real bad with the body aches and general feeling bad, but never ran a fever. 

The other thing that helped make this week crappy, actually happened the week before.  Chris Kyle was killed.  I’m still not sure about all the circumstances that were involve with that whole situation, but it sucks no matter what.  I’m not going to sit here and say that Kyle was a saint, because I’m sure he wasn't.  I don’t know enough about him to make that kind of call, but I did read his book and I think we would have been on the same wave length as far as what freedom means.  He is, in my mind, a hero and that’s all I have to say about that.

The weekend though, has really saved this whole week.  After struggling at work this week, just to be there, things started to look up.  I know that’s a bit cliche, but it didn't happen all at once.  Friday, I felt like shit the whole day.  I felt queasy the entire time just like on Thursday.  Saturday, though, we all started to seem to pick up in spirit.  We spent a lot of time as a family doing different activities.  It’s Sunday night now and we have just kind of wrapped up our weekend and going to bed, preparing for the oncoming week.  I like this feeling and we plan to keep it coming.  There are a whole lot of things we plan to do in the future to make more family time together.  I’ll elaborate on those plans later, after we find out if they work out or not.

I guess that’s all for this blog, so if you have anything to comment on feel free to post it in the comment section below.