I was about twelve and right on the verge of puberty when life was simple and easy to navigate.
My daily routine consisted of school, doing my homework, getting a few chores done for mom, and the rest of the time was mine and mine alone. I had the woods behind the house to explore and it gave me hours and hours of doing nothing but just that. One day I would explore a beautiful fern growing way up on a tree and on another day, rainbow fish swimming in the stream meandering through the forest. They were mesmerizing. Then there were the mushrooms in every color, shape, and size and I would look for little people under them. Yes, I had a vivid imagination which would help with my writing career later on in life.
It was a time when life was simple. The simple pleasures put a smile on my face and my mind was filled with something wondrous, nature at its best. I was caught up in a world of imagination and anything was possible, that was the message I got. I didn’t know at the time that I was getting ready to leave it all behind and “time” would show me a different path altogether. Simplicity would be left behind and I would embark on growing up where life became difficult but that year in the woods would stay with me forever.
It is a year I would love to relive and I would go back there willingly. Time stood still and I was caught up in something bigger than myself. It was a time when boys were waiting to be discovered and life’s demands were put on hold and SIMPLE was what it was about.
