My Place

When I was little my parents used to leave me to spend the day with my Grampa Jerry. These were the good days, the days I looked forward to every time my parents went away. These days always consisted of one major element, the outdoors. No matter what we did we always did it outside.

My favorite however was by far going to Beech Forest. While many people could say that Beech Forest is a lovely place, a serene place, to me it was even more. It was a place where you could walk in quiet, feel the breeze through your hair, the sun poking through the trees on to you below, and so much more. Every time was the same but different. While the place was the same, and the routine was the same, there was always something new to be observed.

We'd drive up and park Grampa's Dodge Dakota in the parking lot and begin our walk, always starting on the left side. We’d begin walking slowly, in no hurry, just enjoying being outdoors. We'd stop at the trail leading to the dock over the pond and head down there to see if we could see any frogs. Next we'd walk along till we came to the opening. This was the sign that we were almost there. There being the tree in which we fed the birds. We’d get ready for feeding the Chick a Dees by crushing the peanut butter crackers in our hands. We'd walk slowly over to the tree, whose branch stretched out far to the right, at the perfect level to rest our arms. Lying are arms across the thick branch we'd wait, quietly, listening for the noises of the Chick a Dees. Soon we'd her chick a dee dee dee, chick a dee dee dee, the call of the bird. Soon enough we would see them hiding on the branches, checking there surroundings, taking in any threats. Then they shutter their wings and fly over landing  gently on our hands. There claws digging softly into the cold palms of my hands. While my siblings Emma, Natalie, and Patrick always shied away when the Chick a Dees went to land i never did. My grampa said i had a knack for that. From then on he called me "The Bird Lady." This place, the place where I felt at home, the place I always looked forward to going, this was the place where my greatest memories formed.