Stopping by the Woods on a Summer Day

Photo credit: Alamy

Over the years, my dogs and I have had many experiences on our daily walks, especially when we get into the nearby park woods. I know these woods and the park quite well but that is not ok with the nuns with whom I live. They are convinced that the Boston Strangler knows these woods even better than I do though I point out he lived in Boston and is long dead. On one trip around Shadow Lake, I spotted an older couple who had been fishing when the woman was struck with a heart attack. The man signaled me for help, so I went into life-saving mode with my dog Hopscotch. The man called 911 for an ambulance and asked me to put all their gear into his car while he stayed with his wife until the ambulance arrived. Hopscotch and I were like an emergency cop with a trusty canine officer! I offered CPR but the man had it under control. They were soon off, and I told him I would pray for her recovery. She looked like she was going to make it, and I felt relieved.

Another time, Hops and I were walking a nearby neighborhood because it was getting too dark for the woods and park. Suddenly a woman came running toward us screaming, “Help me. Help me.” She had to get to an emergency room in a nearby hospital. I told her I’d take her. In she went into the back seat while I held Hops, who did not approve of strangers getting into ‘our’ car. On the way to the hospital, she told me her boyfriend beat her up and threatened to kill her. She escaped and found us. I kept looking for cars following us, but no one did. At the hospital, she exited at the emergency department, and I asked to go in with her. It was then that I saw one half of her face was slashed with cuts and very bloody. She said no—she could handle it now. 

It gets better. I was walking Finn, our extremely protective cocker spaniel—yes, you got that right, not a Rottweiler or German Shepherd. Finn and I were on an early morning sprint when a young woman ran up to me crying and bleeding from a hand wound. Her boyfriend had thrown her out of his car, and she tore her hand in the process. Could I help? As I spoke with her, the boyfriend showed up and I knew a moment of terror. “Now the nuns would say, “See we told you.” But, of course, I reasoned, if I were dead, they might not know the extent of my famous murder! When said boyfriend approached us, my Finn went into action. He growled and showed his teeth. He shuffled the ground beneath him. The boyfriend looked at him and ran away!! Nobody messes with my Ma’am said Finn. We drove the girl home.

I share these stories to show how an innocent walk in the woods can turn challenging. But the other day as Lily and I walked in the park adjoining the woods, we heard the sound of young voices coming from deep over the ranch fence into the recesses of the woods leading down to Tinkers Creek, a major tributary of the Cuyahoga River. Three bicycles had been dropped near where we stood. We watched as three boys gathered their fishing gear and mounted the hill to their bikes. I waited for them. “Young men,” I said to them, “it gives me great joy to see you fishing here where my brothers and I fished and waded some 75 years ago.” They were wide-eyed. “That’s a long time ago,” said one who was sure I had just dropped from a worm hole letting extraterrestrial aliens into this world! Their faces twitched with unbelief. “Ok.” I said, “I’m older than your grandparents, but I am thrilled to see you doing what my brothers and I did so long ago in this very place. It’s summer. I want to thank you for taking a summer day to enjoy this magnificent creation. Enjoy every minute.” One of them, an enlightened kid, said, “This is better than staying in the house and playing videos!” He asked if I had played videos when I was young. “Nope. We didn’t even have television until I went into high school.”  I gave each a high five and said, “Don’t you ever lose that thinking, boys!” They rode off waving to me. 

Reflection

I looked up at a sky as blue as periwinkles, its clouds moving gracefully. I felt enfolded by the wild growth of jade to lime and deep green and I reveled at the creek below galloping toward the river leaving ferocious little eddies past the rocks where the boys had been sitting. Within me stirred long-forgotten lines from a poem by James Russell Lowell. They just popped into my mind on this glorious afternoon as I watched my three young friends pedal away. “And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever come perfect days; Then heaven tries earth if it be in tune…”

Early summer is a blest time to get outdoors with a book, a journal, and a dog. Choose a place where you won’t be disturbed. Give yourself at least an hour. A folding chair is helpful. Start by asking the Spirit to be with you and to impart some of the Spirit’s wonderful gifts like joy, peace, patience. Listen to nature. Write about what you hear. Wiggle your toes in the grass. If you’re near a creek or pond, put your feet in the water. Let your heart be youthful again, like the three young boys on an adventure on a glorious June day.

Scripture readings include any psalms celebrating nature. Psalm 74:15-17 is one. There are many examples in New Testament of summer, but the three Synoptic Gospels treat the example of the fig tree as a sign of summer. Saint Luke gives the analogy a fair shake in         LK 21:29-33.

To all my readers and Anonymous Angels: May you enjoy a restful, inspiring summer.