Over 40 years ago I was a young boy, growing up in the country outside of a small town in Arkansas.
We lived on a dead-end dirt road - with 10 acres of crudely fenced woods defining our land.
As is often the custom in Arkansas, young boys receive a rifle as one of their early birthday gifts - and mine was a fine .22 Remington long rifle. The ability to hunt - to put game on the table, if you will - is a very old tradition in the culture within which I was raised. Knowing one's way in the woods and mountains, another.
Another custom, a boy and his dog, was also practiced in my family. Mine was a Great Dane. He was my faithful companion, my protector, and my ally in many adventures in those days.
We were fortunate in that quite a few creeks and streams crossed our property. After a hard rain, the creeks would rise and the waters would flow quite strongly. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve the adventures of finding new ways of crossing those creeks...but always aware of the dangers of water moccasins, copperheads, and rattlesnakes. There were several close calls in my childhood involving close encounters with snakes...but that is another story, or two.
While walking through the woods with my rifle and my dog - I often imagined what life was like for the frontiersman in the early days of our country: Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, and Buffalo Bill. Those were my imaginary heroes as a child.
The feeling of peacefulness that settled into my soul, listening to the wind passing through the trees, is something that I can remember with perfect clarity even today. Now that feeling of peace is hard to find though - with the hustle and bustle of life. There's too much noise, too many people, and cities give me a feeling of being crowded in a bit too much.
In more recent years I discovered a comparable peace to be found at sea - far from land.
The world would be a much better place, if we all had a few acres to call our own - to walk in the woods with a dog - and to listen to the stillness of trees dreaming...and to listen to the teachings of the wind blowing in the branches of the trees.
