Did you ever encounter something benign and suddenly it put you in a different frame of mind? I was walking yesterday evening when suddenly the thick heavy sweet smell of honeysuckle filled my senses. It was a warm and humid evening and the dark clouds passing over were like upside down grayish cotton candy. In the stagnant air, the smell of honeysuckle reminded me of days when I was a boy. I remember the gooey smell of that vine as the air dripped into my lungs on those sultry Alabama days. I don’t remember the heat and in case you didn’t know, Alabama gets hot. I guess the heat didn’t bother my skinny frame. But I remember the honeysuckle and riding my bike along trails through woods where my friends and I built forts and had dirt clod fights. A freedom seldom allowed to boys these days.
Something about that walk reminded me of home, that home of mine when I was a child as I have had many homes and at times… none. The neighborhood here is still being carved out of this Williamson county farmland. Still in the transitional place between farm and forest and sprawling subdivision. A transition between what it was and what it is destined to be. A condition with which I can fully identify. As I look between the beautiful imposing houses, past their small manicured lawns to the woods dark almost black behind them, I am saddened by the fact that these forests will probably never be investigated by the children who live at their edge. I suppose some of the less than virtuous activities that we boys did will not take place either. At least not there.
So a walk around a neighborhood on a warm spring evening after a passing shower offered me a chance to inhale the intoxicating sweetness of honeysuckle. As the soggy saccharine air oozed into my lungs, I was brought to a place where I could almost feel the past and the present at the same time. It was rich. I suppose I could have had my headphones on listening to something that would have improved my life, my knowledge or my finances. Maybe even some music. Those are good things but sometimes I think we need to take a walk and just be with God and our own thoughts. You never know, a path may open up in your mind, you can peer down it as far as you can see and choose to take it. I took it even though it may be less traveled, and that has made all the difference. Sorry, I couldn’t resist