The Old Road Fantasy

The sun was shining today, really brightly, and like all the other people that live in this crappy Ohio climate, I started to think about warmer weather. I thought about spring, and the way that even the air feels like warmth to the body and the sun is like food for the soul. Then I thouhgt about summer, and what I would be doing in the future that seems so near. I have no idea why I started to think about the old road that runs back in the woods behind my house.

I had been told that a section of road used to run back behind my house. That particular section had been forgotten, and had been unknown to me for many years, until one day i decided to find it.

Summer was in full swing, and back in the woods there were all kinds of plants that covered the floor of the forest like something out of a story. The canopy stretced out like a carpet as I walked farther back into the woods than I had ever been before. It didn’t seem like a road, it seemed like a dirt driveway that i stumbled across by accident. One way led to where the new road was, but one went deeper into the woods…so why not take the road less traveled?

Briars and mosquitos took a toll, and the road got more narrow, and eventually, really steep. I had no idea what i was looking for, but I felt like finding the road had just become part of a great thing, something better was just beyond…but I had no idea what. I had walked forever, so it seemed, and the road finally came to the top of a hill. I walked off the path and came onto a field that was growing hay for a local farmer no doubt. After watching my step on road for the last 30-45 min, i had to make an effort to look up…..it was beyond beautiful. The sky was a perfect blue and I was looking down at a world that I had know all my life, but had never seen. The houses were specs and, noise was absent from the entire scene, I must have stood there in silence for ten minutes just staring into the horizen.

And I thought of her. The one whose face I have never seen, but have no doubt that she is out there. I lived out a fantasy in my mind that I know someday will come true. She will meet my parents, have some lunch, and give me a curious smile when I tell her I want to take her on a walk. She’ll joke and talk along the way, but pretend to be interested in what we are doing the whole walk up that hill, mainly because she can see the excitment in my eyes. Just as she is about to complain about how stupid all of this is i’ll take her by the hand and lead her to the clearing on the top of the hill. She will see for miles and miles and notice that she has never been so alone with someone in such a huge world. She’ll be in awe when she realizes that I found the place and saved it like a treasure in my heart for just that momnet with her. She’ll wrap my arms around me as if she was afraid of falling down the hill…after she stares into the sun diving down toward the horizen of our own private planet, she’ll turn to me and break the silence with an “I love you” that will never be forgotten by either of us.

I sighed why I turned to leave that spot…I haven’t been back in a while…maybe I’ll take a hike this summer…maybe it will be alone…then again maybe not

Peace and Love…Mikey