Woodland Wonder.
I came of age in the suburbs, but there was a large, undeveloped area of field and woods that my group of friends and I just called “The Field.”
Its paths and trails were our playground. We rode mini-bikes, found hollow-tree hiding places and in general pretended we were country kids in another place and time. We spent hours there over the course of our preteen and teen years, and it was also my shortcut to my piano lesson.
We had names for the different landmarks, including “The Devil’s Hill Tree,” a popular meeting spot for the beginnings of many an adventure. It was a familiar, if mysterious, landscape to us, and we were heartbroken when the land was be divded for home building.
Here’s to the wild places of our youth. May they ever be available and not too far away.