I love pathways

Growing up we spent Summers on Cape Cod. We ended up moving to the Cape to live year round when I was 12. We always Summered in the same spot though. My Grandmother's cottage. My Grandmother put the cottage in my Parent's name but, it really was hers. In my heart anyway.

I refer to those Summers now as kind of like "Lord of the Flies" because, while it wasn't dangerous, we were all allowed to just - run - free.

Paths connected the cottages that were owned by my Mom's Sisters ..... and the cottages, paths, roadways, woods, and pond were filled with kids. All. Summer. Long.

I spent all Summer barefoot. Running. Running along the paths to the other cottages, running through the woods playing "the flashlight game" (hide and seek - at night), running up the hill to lay in the sun (which is why I now see the dermatologist regularly), running into the water..... Running.

There is an imprint on me because of these Summers. My feet are tough and I can see really well in the dark. There weren't always enough flashlights to go around. Not only am I the youngest in my family. I'm the youngest of all the first Cousins. You do the math. No way was I getting a flashlight.

I loved these paths. I see them clearly in my mind. Summers have changed over the past 20 years or so, and while there are still kids going down there, it's not the same. It may never be. My Mom and her two Sisters would pack up on the last day of school and drive down, and if my (crappy) memory serves me well, it'd be just a couple of days before school started that we'd pack back up and go home. Now people go, with kids in tow, for a week or two..... life has gotten busy, circumstances have changed. It's different.

Paths have gotten overgrown.

I'd bet though...... if I got one full Summer there...... I could clear those pathways once again..... running through them with bare feet. I wouldn't need any type of sickle or garden tool. I would just need to run them..... repeatedly. Take those paths - daily. Over and over again.

Taking this image I see clearly our minds..... our neuropathways..... pathways that were never formed (in my kids) or pathways that have gotten overgrown (in my brain). Pathways that are TOO clear and too well worn that should not even exist.... Pathways of impatience and bitterness....Pathways that should be there and are not.... trust and attachment, love and peace.

I wonder.... no. No I don't wonder, that's a lie. I know that if I wanted better pathways, that I could have them. Like a well worn path on Cape Cod in the Summer, I know if I practice making a pathway of patience, and a pathway of forgiveness, someday that pathway will be so clear I'd be able to walk it in the darkest of nights.

Initially it may not be very comfortable. I may get hurt, or bump in to a tree or two. But at some point..... I'd be able to run in that path, just like I did as a kid in the Summer...... freely, happily, without a thought..... without stumbling or straying off into the wrong direction. Without fear.

Free.