Last Saturday was warm, with a pleasant, tickling breeze. It had rained buckets the previous night, but now the sunlight dappled the trail before me, and the birds rejoiced in song. I was the mind of Thoreau, who said when walking in the woods, “There is so much more air and sunshine in our thoughts.”
My wife and I had brought along our three kids — ages six, eight and eleven. As they hiked, they motored their mouths. I am not the first to observe how we teach our children to walk and talk, only to insist that they sit down and be quiet. But with no schedule or agenda to follow, I was happy to engage in their flights of fancy, whether conversations about rock creatures or Minecraft.
Occoneechee State Park is a popular destination; we had been lucky to grab one of the last parking spots in the gravel lot at the foot of the hill. On the hike, we met eleven dogs (my youngest gleefully kept count), ranging in size from a little guy whose belly brushed the dirt to a German Shepherd with his massive head. At the overlook, my son made a friend who had brought along a bird identification guide. The two of them proudly named the turkey vultures riding the air currents above the Eno River.
I sat on a rock, munching a snack of blueberries. I watched as families took turns posing for group photos before the overlook. I love this little ritual when we ask a complete stranger to snap the pic with our phone, the device that usually keeps us from observing the people directly around us. I love how the stranger is delighted to be asked, how they will take several, and how they grin sheepishly, hoping that at least one of the pictures turned out. After taking back the phone, its owner smiles with gratitude. That image is not captured by a phone, yet it’s a tender way that we care for one another in the moment and a reminder that there’s always more than what fits the frame. We can have more air and sunshine in our thoughts.
(featured photo via North Carolina State Parks)
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.
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