Earth

October 12, 2024

I took a deep breath and breathed in the smell of the Earth as I sunk deeper into the plushy grass. It is the end of the season, but it was a particularly wet Summer and mild Autumn, so the grass still felt full and lush, rather than crunchy, like in years past. The legs of my pants were growing damp from the early morning dew. I loved this time of year. It always felt more like a beginning than an ending; more like the start of something than it did like the end. I love the way the leaves crunch and the smells come to life.

The breeze tousled the hair that was poking out of my stalking cap. I could tell today was going to be the last nice day before Winter started wrapping her icy fingers around my home. She had arrived later and later these last couple years, and while it made me sad, I was always happy for a few extra days of Autumn. Winter always made my life so much harder, here in the woods. I had to dig in order to get firewood and then leave it out to dry before I was able to use it. It made coming back home from time away from the cabin a feat and the snow fell so deep that, more than once, I had lost a boot while walking to the door. I had a lot to do. I needed to replenish the woodpile so that I had plenty of the colder months, and I had to cure the meat, after catching it of course, that would hold me off on nights that I didn’t want to go out and hunt.

I loved this life for most of the year, but when winter came around I always questioned whether this was the best choice. City life wasn’t that bad, with its paved streets and markets and heated buildings. But it was. That is a life that I never want to go back to. Too many memories that held too much weight; the weight of his expectations and my inability to meet them. No, here was worth the hard winters. Here was worth the peace and the joy that it brought me.

I desperately needed to get up and get my chore list started, but I laid there for one more moment, soaking in the season, before it was over.