21.

As I step outside to wander through the trails along the river, I am reminded of the joys during these early hours of the morning. Walking through the quiet streets I can see the early rays of the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky and slowly shining through the trees. There is no one else awake with me to experience the peacefulness with. 

I don’t feel alone because of it, if anything I am relishing being the only one experiencing this secret little world.

I feel special. I am the only one to share secrets with the trees and the birds. As I leave the path and descend down the grass to teach the trails, I leave my world behind and I feel myself entering the world of nature. I can hear crickets chirping. Magpies singing. Ducks quacking and playing in the water. As I follow the trail that leads me nowhere and everywhere, I can smell the early morning dew on the grass. I cannot explain the smell in a way that does it justice, but it smells like hope, new beginnings, and a certain amount of whimsy that makes me want to run away and live in the woods for the rest of time. I can see the sun shining through the most and low hanging clouds, creating a haze of beauty over the water.

I stand for a few minutes watching insects flit over the rivers surface, the ducks swimming lazily in a group around them. The weeping willows lowest leaves just dangling in the water, moving ever so slightly in the breeze. As I sit amongst the flowers and grass that live on the banks of the river, I am sitting in a sense of peace that I have felt nowhere else before. How did we use to live and thrive between the trees and the earth, to then move on to concrete jails that are killing our sense of primalness?

I don’t want this to be my secret world within my real one. I want it to be my whole world.

As I step off the path that lets me imagine back onto the one that takes my magic away, I whisper my goodbyes to those watching me leave.

I tell them that I’ll be back.

They have a hard time believing me.