The Grove
The Grove
Recently I found myself sitting in a grove of towering pine trees surrounded almost entirely by water, alone with my thoughts. It was windy and the sky seemed poised to open up. Eventually the damp air and wind drove me from idle reflections to begin exploring my surroundings on foot. For more than an hour I meandered about that sap-scented wonderland, moving just quickly enough to stay warm, but slowly enough to be able to savor its many nuances; birds sang, a pair of owls hooted back and forth, a light mist hovered over a tranquil pond, a small flower bloomed on the forest floor.
On one of the paths an adolescent boy came charging by me with his golden retriever; I couldn’t tell which of them seemed happier. Their footfalls soon faded, yet the unbridled enthusiasm of their exertions somehow lingered behind them and made me smile. You see, it is that sort of enthusiasm for life that has come back to me by degrees in the time since I had weight loss surgery almost three years ago. Sometimes I am literally quivering with energy to try new things or to push my limits physically. At other times I have to be satisfied with managing to just put one foot in front of the other for awhile because I don’t want to give in to the self-sabotage of old, unhealthy habits whenever I am visited by the down side of my ever-morphing moods. That renewed enthusiasm for life has been a revelation to me.
I have always been deeply moved by the resilience of the human spirit, the dogged pursuit of relief from life’s hardships. Yet it is more than that, too. Just as the pines in that magnificent grove are rooted in the solidity of the earth and nourished by the heavens, the human spirit seems rooted in hope and nourished by joy. As I left the pine grove behind me that day I felt my own spirit soaring with hope and joy in my heart, a far happier, healthier man than I once was.
RP
