The kids and I moved to our current house in 2001 and I love my neighbors and my neighborhood. In seven years, I’ve done a lot of running and walking in the surrounding area and we are lucky to have nice walking paths and a couple of local parks near by. One of the reasons I love Frederick is because it has not been completely overrun with construction. Even though my neighborhood is fairly close to downtown, i have a huge piece of farmland about half a mile from my front door. I’ve stopped at the edge of it many times, always happy to see the Cornfields, the cows and the expanse of land untouched by new home construction. A few times during full moons, i’ve ventured to the edge of the land to look at the moon because it’s so much clearer without all the streetlights. However, I’ve never gone any further than that.. until today, that is. On an evening excursion, I decided to start walking along the freshly mowed cornfields just to see where I would end up. Initially, I was nervous and reciting what I would say to the farmer if he happened to catch me tresspassing on his land. After a few minutes, I relaxed and started looking around. Soon, I left behind all the houses and noises of my developement and I started hearing the birds and the wind instead. Before too long, it was just me, the seeminly endless cornfields on the right and eventually the Monocacy River on my left. Feeling the cornstalks crunch under my feet reminded me of late summers in Italy, playing in the cornfields with my cousins until the sun set. Being close to the water and smelling freshly tilled earth was just glorious. Amazingly enough, I’d only left my house 20 minutes before yet suddenly, I was in a totally different world. The river is very low, it hasn’t rained in weeks. Leaves were gently falling from the trees, creating a dense layer on the surface of the water. The sun was setting and I was watching the rays peeking through the trees when I saw a family of foxes slowly making their way across the field and coming straight towards me. Foxes! Less than a half mile from my house and in seven years of living here, I’d never taken this walk. I sometimes feel that the daily grind of life has done a number on my sense of wonder. I am overstimulated and somewhat jaded …but those foxes had me smiling from ear to ear. I kept walking for quite a while, birds, rabbits and badgers scurrying away but not too fast– it didn’t seem like they were overly concerned with my presence. Heading back into the general direction of my neighborhood, I discovered a paved walking trail, snaking along the river and taking me almost all the way to the back of my developement. All the walking I’d done and i didn’t even know that path existed. What a perfect Sunday afternoon surprise.
