The Secret Magic Forest

So i go out for my run today and I am feeling a little bummed about my to-do list and distracted my my total lack of desire to run and I start my iPod in the middle of my playlist instead of the beginning. Somehow, this changed my whole morning. I am running my usual, slightly stale, suburban route when I notice the entrance to Cherokee Marsh. The marsh surrounds my entire neighborhood yet I have never stepped foot in it. To be fair i have never done so because I have never seen anyone else do so and my entrance to the marsh doubles as a motor oil depository for the city. Not exactly appealing.

Today, though, I had on new songs and I saw someone coming out with their totally not allowed dog, so I went in. It was beautiful; I wandered trail after trail until I was there for an hour. I was so disappointed that I did not have my camera with me, because there is one point where the marsh drops off and you are looking down into one of those forests that looks like a human being has never entered it. Since i was the only one in the marsh for hours it is possible that no one ever has. It was like a dream sequence in a movie where hundreds of leaves were just falling from the trees in slow motion and landing soundlessly and no one was there to witness it but me.

So it was pretty cool today when Olivia asked me what I did while she was at school today and I got to tell her that I had discovered a secret, magical forest. She thought that was pretty cool too. I love my kid.