Exploring feet-first

Kerry A. Thompson

Sheltering at home in these unprecedented times is bringing us some unexpected benefits. My husband and I are fortunate enough to still be working (I am working from home; Tom is driving people to medical appointments, so he's still out in public and exposed). That means although we are mostly home, we're also mostly busy. However, his Krav Maga classes, which took him out of the house four times a week, are now on hold, so he has some weekend time he doesn't usually have.

We moved to western Massachusetts a few years ago, to an area with a lot of ponds, lakes, and trails. Despite our giving lip service to "exploring the area," we hadn't really done much in the way of getting out into all the nature that abounds around us.

A few weekends ago, we started setting aside one weekend morning as our exploratory time. We've now visited some waterfalls (our favorite) and discovered other woodland hikes. We're enjoying getting out in fresh air. We've found a good balance in the areas we've explored—with easy trails for me and enough rocks and hills for Tom's self-challenges—and are starting to get to know the beautiful area we moved to. 

We don't live in a heavily populated area, but there are usually some people out on the trails. I especially enjoy seeing families with older children who wouldn't ordinarily have had this special time together, with soccer and dance practice, friends, and video games all competing for those little slices of weekend time. And the dogs! They look like they are in heaven, with their cherished family members, out in the world of trees, water, and awesome smells.

With all that we can't do at this time and the worries of illness looming, it's easy to feel a bit down about this Great Pause. But you too may find some unexpected benefits in your life that could only have come when everything else stopped for a time in the spring of 2020.

Here's a video my husband took of one of the places we visited: Bear's Den in New Salem, MA.