My Love

As you slowly wake in the warm quiet comfort of our bed, I did hours ago…in the dark…

I stumble through the rhythmic preparations that my father taught me so many years ago…

I ready my hands with coffee and my pills, my heart I ready with the spirit of the beast….

I acknowledge quietly to myself, my body is not as easily prepared as it was years past, but do not let that stop my progress toward the quite solitude that still feeds my soul….

As I pull on my boots that shuffle through the leaves, the last step in the direction of the woods, I pat each pocket ensuring that all tools needed to honor the beast are where I left them….

I set each foot in front of the other for what seems farther each year, to the same old rickety stand…

I am amazed that each season I walk through the same woods, shuffling, tripping on sticks and rocks in the dark, and yet each year, I walk more and more silently….

Reaching my perch, I tie off my bow and quiver, for this hunt to be hauled up into place..

With each step up, I say a prayer that if it is HIS will that I take the beast today, that my pills have made my body steady enough that my aim be true and the kill be swift…

As the grey turns to color, the birds awake first, but they do not make the noise that they did last season…

The squirrels are next, scurrying about to ensure…as I, the collection of food for winter…

As the wind again stings my face, I stare into the stand of a thousand trees and notice for the first time a heart shape in the bark which distracts my thoughts, my heart and body consider making the walk early, back to your side….

I steady my resolve to wait for the beast for another hour or so…

Movement in the woods alert me to glance at my weapon of choice my camera or bow..

For this sit Instance I choose camera as a group of 3 does and 2 yearlings feed their way in and out of my sights….

With the sunup on the horizon trying to chase away the grey skies a brief sprinkle of ice pellets make me pull up my hood and slip my hands in my pockets….

I wiggle my toes to try to warm them and shake off the chill of the morning, I embrace the vest that you bought me and press the button that chases away the crispness and warms my back and soul…

A simple heart text tells me that you are awake and preparing for our family, a day of love and joy….

As the wind that is coming today begins to move even the biggest trees in our woods I slowly amble down the steps of my stand, steps now ice covered…

I hear your voice “please be careful “…

With my feet firmly back on ground, I take a deep breath acknowledging “no beast today” and I shuffle quicker on my path back home, the path that leads to you!