84-LancMt» Flhrtng, Saturday, Saptambar 3, 1994
How vividly I remember that
first September day of first grade
for oid: first child.
Determined to be brave and
nonchalant about this whole new
path on which she was embarking,
I was relieved to have succeeded
as she waved goodbye, boarded
the big yellow bus, and never
glanced back. Until I got home,
spied the forgotten pencil box. and
could no longer hold back the
tears.
One of the best ways for me to
cope with the traumas of constant
ly changing new paths in life is to
take a walk down a comforting
old, “beaten” one. We have num
erous such beaten paths about the
farm, permanently worn from dai
ly use by cattle hooves, pets’
paws, tractor, and equipment tires,
and of course, the soles of bam
boots and sneaker treads.
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My favorite is our hard-packed
field road which bounds fields of
hay, com and soybeans, traverses
a small woodlot and curves
through the heifers' pasture.
Though its path remains constant,
diversions along the wayside con
stantly vary, dependent on season
and weather.
With dusk arriving earlier now
each evening, walks along that
beaten path in the fading light of
fer lots more appeal than pulling
garden weeds. Solomon and I
headed there for the first time in
weeks one recent evening as the
sky was beginning to darken and
dew already wetting the grass.
Below the house, the path forms
a boundary between a Geld of late,
tasseling corn and the small
stream opposite. Already the air
was already chilly and damp,
making welcome the sweatshirt
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I’d grabbed on the way out In the
heaviness of that still, moist air,
the aroma of com plants setting
seed was almost overwhelming, a
fragrance more enticing to far*
men’ noses than the costliest per
fume.
It grew warmer where path as
cended through the woods. Once
crisscrossed with the beaten paths
of our son’s three-wheeler trails,
the woodiot has hidden those
traces of his earlier years withi
creeping briarpatches and low
hanging wild grapes. Paths here
are now more subtle narrow ones
shaped by the shy doe who grazes
the alfalfa and fat groundhogs
waddling through the underbrush.
Sudenly I missed my four-leg
ged companion. He loves these
walks and usually leads the way;
some very important doggy-dis
traction must have come up. A
dark, brushy-tailed shadow slip
ping moments later across the
dark meadow offers a clue. Solo
mon, for whatever reason, is
afraid of the foxes half his size.
This one plays around in the pas
ture grass, seemingly unaware it
has a spectator, until I move high
er back the path for a better view.
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There waits Solomon and the
brushy-tailed shadow vanishes.
It reminds me of a recent en
counter on another beaten path,
one of the worn cow trails from
the dairy herd’s pasture. Headed
toward the edge of the woods to
herd in the cows for evening milk
ing. I spied a squirrel blithely hop
ping in my direction along the
same path I was following. While
I stopped, the squirrel, intent on
his pursuits, continued to within
about four feet of me.
Suddenly it sat up on its back
feet, curiously gaxing at me
straight in the eye no doubt
wondering what kind of strange
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cow this was. Only when I laugh
ed did the squirrel do a double
take and flee with a derisive flick
of the tail at this alien, two-legged
pasture intruder. But we found no
squirrels on this dusk walk across
the beaten path. Just a peaceful
evening colored with the pink
hues of sunset.
Life is a constant following of
branching paths, some taken by
choice, others laid beneath our
feet by fate. How comforting and
reassuring to flee briefly from the
more hectic paths, to steal a mo
ment of serenity along a favorite
old beaten one.
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