A Deep Breath Beneath The Trees

 

Last week I had the very fortunate opportunity to somewhat "go back to my roots" by spending a week with the Antioch School as they did their week at Glen Helen Outdoor Education center. They don't go every year, and I didn't go as a student, so this makes it all the more special. Unlike the many other schools that go around the clock of the year, Antioch having the fortune of location, left the first morning from the school on foot, a simple hike to the camp through the valleys and over the bridges spanning a corner of the 1,000 acre preserve. Despite the constant frigid cold that morning was as beautiful as Ohio can look in winter, and there was something powerful and magnificent about the sleeping forest. After arriving, collecting the luggage hauled by parents, and settling into the dorms, we trooped back to the lodge for orientation, and sinking into a lodge armchair I felt washed over in deep relaxation. Out the window was trees as far as the eye could see, around me people quiet and loving of heart, those that wanted to care and teach children, to live in a more wild place, one with nature.
   I spent the next week with that same feeling of total and complete relaxation, that feeling you get when you slip into a hot bath, scented bubbles on the surface of the water, a feeling of complete ease, letting all your other cares go for this short time, and just being present to enjoy the current happenings. At least thats how I felt... rising with the children in the morning and caring for their petty, yet sweet needs. A missing sock, tangled hair, an extra scarf. I woke the sleepyheads coaxing and cajoling them out of bed, and into coats and boots preparing them for a day of the outdoors and hiking, their young bodies now easily accustomed to the temperatures, always below 20 degrees.  While the children were adventuring, or shall I say learning, I stayed indoors in the dorm. Curled up on the common room couch, crochet or a book in hand munching on cookies made for the trip, it was total and utter contentment and happiness. Being with the kids giving the riddles, or my own mini lessons on hair braiding, or rather, simply doing the braiding, and alone just spending time with myself so to speak.
   In addition the trip had another added element, as a teacher at the Antioch school my father was along for the trip, and while I have journeyed often with my mother, this was both different and wonderful. My parents formed the relationship that would later create me in this wonderful hidden spot on earth, and so while the week was simply a flash of children, food, forest, cold, and content, it had a deeper meaning, sort of an assurance or reminder of who I was, and what I had come from, a bit of comfort and significance as I step out seemingly in the world, but with the knowledge that those things that matter deep down are in fact always there, and sometimes one just needs to take a moment to slow down for them.