Less than one week left for me here on the preserve, and then it's back to....civilization. At least what most people would consider a more appropriate version of society, when comparing life in a cabin with no plumbing nor electricity with that of a New York City apartment.
I don't want to go. I'm happy here.
But I must, and I will, with hopes that next year I will again be here, living in this special, special place.
My biggest surprise was the level of disgust many people openly expressed in my very willingness to even want to live this way. When I added that I wouldn't own an automobile, they seemed to get it. I had simply gone off the deep end. In their minds, that is.
Going sans car was the key to this kingdom, I declare, should anyone be interested. The simple matter is, that one just can not experience the natural world while whizzing from place to place at sixty miles per hour.
The Shongum Path has been my commute, and a pleasant one. Somewhere along the traverse I lost two entire clothing sizes, and gained an intimate connection with much of the plant-life along the way. Teddy and I were often alone on those journeys, not another person on the trail, and when another human happened along I was often initially shocked by the ingress. I had been that deeply immersed in the experience of...experiencing the path I was on.
Not to say I was always observing the many variances in moss, lichen, trees, bushes, flowers, leaves, caterpillars, birds, sounds and such; sometimes the thing one becomes most aware of, when walking quietly, is that which is the world within themselves.
There was plenty of time for me to delve; I walked that path back and forth several times each week. Mostly taking stock on the things I have to be grateful for, this time in the cabin being just one. My choices over the past ten years or so led me to this place; my distaste for corporate sustenance, which eventually expelled me, forcing me to find a way to be self-supporting. The interesting labyrinth I walked trying to find my way toward that goal. Climbing - the change in life that changed my life!
Now I see what life has to offer, and though I am to return to city life in a few short days, I am a bit concerned. Will I be able to stand it? The noise and urban bravado were taxing my levels of comfort in the months(years, more aptly) before I too this hiatus in the woods. Altercations between myself and others were occurring more and more frequently; I just couldn't keep my mouth shut when confronted with selfish stupidity.
Teddy has been unmolested by hostile, unhappy, people dipping their shopping bags of heavy groceries for three months. Nobody believes me when I say these types hit try to him with the bags on purpose. But I know. I watch, and I see their faces as they prepare for attack. It's intentional. No doubt about it.
No doubt about it – there will be problems with my return....
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