I made a detour this afternoon

I was headed to the grocery store without my camera and journal, but decided it might be a good idea to take them with me. I rarely go anywhere without them anyway so I went back for them.

I set the GPS to Indian Springs, not that I don’t know where it is but to know when I’d get there. I decided instead to check out the parks nearby and found Gardner on East Atlanta Road in Stockbridge. Naturally I gravitated to the bridge crossing the stream and stood there a few minutes experiencing nature’s embrace and photographing the mallards as they played in the stream.

A few minutes later, I was walking along the bank following the urge to get barefooted. I sat on the damp bank, took off my shoes, and closed my eyes as I felt the earth beneath my feet and listened to the chorus of birds, the chirping of crickets, and the calls of frogs.

I sat barefooted watching the stream and felt another urge: to step in the water. So, I walked back upstream near the rocks, rolled up my pants and stepped in. The water cold between my toes, I watched a squirrel play on a nearby tree. I considered taking its picture, but had left my camera on the bank with my shoes.

As I write this, squirrels are playing in the woods across from me and on the rocks behind me while a swarm of minnows flows down the stream.

I’m now aware of the traffic that’s moving along East Atlanta Road, of the lawn mower running in the distance, of the dampness on the seat of my pants, of the empty playground, and it all reminds me that it’s time to get on to the grocery store. How good that I took this detour!