Lost in the 344 Acre Woods

No, this is not a story about Winnie the Pooh. He lived in the 100 acre woods. This is a story of a silly woman who took two young boys hiking in the middle of the day to a small park she's been to at least 10 times, and managed to get them all lost.

Mary Moore Seacrest Park is one of the least well known parks in our area of town. To access it, you actually turn off a major road, Slaughter, onto a hardly noticeable street between apartment complexes. Honestly, I had driven right by it HUNDREDS of times and never noticed the entrance until a friend told me about it.

Once you make the turn, you drive down this small road two or three miles to a parking lot. At the center of the park, there is a volley ball setup, bathrooms, playground, picnic areas, etc. On the weekends, they hold Frisbee games, football, and jousting on the open grass. It's fun to watch.

But what really draws people to the park is the wild area. There is a paved path that makes a circle; it's a little over 5 miles long. But criss-crossing the paved path are hundreds of small paths; some made by humans, others by animals. The woods are filled with trees so thick you can't see anyone more than 10-15 feet in front of you on the trails. There are gorges, dry river beds, a river, hills, rocks, and wild life. When you make it to the middle of the woods you can't even hear traffic or any sounds of civilization.

Most of my hikes through the park in the past have been with Steve, who has an amazing sense of direction. When we go as a family, we just let Will pick which ever way he wants to and when we're ready to head home Steve leads us out. No biggie.

This morning was beautiful. Steve was working and I didn't want to stay home, so Will and I picked up his friend and headed to the park for a walk. Our original plans were to walk for about half an hour then stop by the play area for the boys. I locked up the car and pocketed my keys. We didn't even take drinks, because we weren't going to be there that long.

As soon as we came to an intersection, Will choose which direction to go. Then Gabe. Then me. About thirty minutes into our walk I realized nothing looked familiar and we hadn't passed anyone in a while. Not to mention, I was pretty sure the last "path" we took was a deer trail.

About then we came upon the river again. In all our trips in the past, we stayed near the river, found a place to cross it and were home free. So we followed the river, but nothing looked familiar. I finally found a place to cross, but it wasn't a place we've ever used before. I was getting desperate though. The boys were thirsty and tired. Tripping over their own feet. Will wanted me to carry him. We'd been walking for at least an hour at this point.

I'd like to mention that until I got lost in the park, I had no idea how big it was. I though the park was about the size of Lew and Donas old place, around 40 acres. I kept expecting to walk up on someone or an area that looked familiar.

Right after crossing the river, we come upon a back of a line of houses. I thought they were the apartment complexes near the turn off. And even though that meant we were two miles from the car, as least we'd know where we were and where we are going. There was a 6 foot tall fence surrounding each building and butting into the last one. First, we tried to walk until the fence ended. Planning on going around them. But the last fence contained viscous dogs and both boys are almost sobbing at this point, so we turned back.

Then I tried the gates we passed back by, they were all locked. About the 10th gate we came to opened. We walked to the back door and knocked, no answer. The side gate allowing us out to the front was unlocked as well. When we stepped into the front I realized we were NOT at the apartment buildings. This was a subdivision I'd never seen before. We went to the front door and knocked. A very nice woman answered and I explained we'd come through the back gate and that we were lost.

I asked her where the park was, and she asked which park. She kindly offered to drive us back to our vehicle. We had basically walked the longest distance in the park and come out the other end, on FM 1626. To get us to our car, she had to drive up FM 1626, cross over on First Street -- go 4 miles, then turn up Slaughter, another mile, then the two miles down to the parking lot. The only other way to get there, go back through the woods.

We spent less than two hours lost in the woods. The boys never got upset. We weren't attacked or scared. Just tired and thirsty. But it was so mentally and physically exhausting I wasn't good for anything else all day.

I took the boys to eat, then Will and I came home. Where I spent the rest of the day curled up in bed with my heating pad.

Forty three, and this is the first time in my life I've been lost. It's not fun.

The BROTHER that gave me the MONEY that bought the HORSE from which the PATTERN was made

THE HORSE

I spent a few days at my brother Jessy's house this week. He has two sons under 4, and my 3-year old had a blast playing with all their toys. A huge hit were two horse swings they had handing from a big tree in the front yard.

Now I've seen horse swings before, and honestly, not that impressive. But these horse swings were the Rolls Royce of horse swings. They seem to cradle the children, allowing them a sense of freedom. They were also adorable. They had manes, provided back support way beyond the height of their heds, had stirrups, and so much more. It's just hard to explain how cool they were. But this post isn't really about how cool they were . . . so much as where my facination ended up leading.

The last 4 years I've been making patterns for hard-to-afford baby items. I started doing this for my own use and it developed into a way to make extra money and give other moms the say opportunity to provide for their children. The result has been that every time I see something child-related that I know someone would like for their child, but probably wouldn't be able to afford, I want to make the pattern.

It didn't take me half a day to start speculating on how the horses were made. First I started "joking" about taking one apart to trace it. Apparently, my husband started getting nervous when he noticed me looking in the garage for a wrench. Hey, I would have been happy with a pair of plyers. And he told me, "You are not taking those Horses' apart." Really, what could I say? I told him I was just joking.

Really, after bed time, who would even know? Well, assuming I managed to get them back together correctly by the next morning. Things don't always go back together the way they come apart. Go figure.

THE BROTHER

Not to be discouraged, I borrowed a ruler the next day and set out in the front yard taking measurements, drawing diagrams and instructions, and taking tons of photos. By this time my brother is watching me with the most confused look on his face.

I haven't lived near my brother in over 13 years. He probably couldn't even tell you where my website is, much less 2 items that I sell on it. (By the way it's at http://www.makethemyourself.com/, go buy something.) He's definately never been exposed to me in deep consentration as I setup a new design. He told me at least 4-times where he bought them at; just up the road, open until 7, lots of designs to choose from. And he seemed really confused when I didn't run right up and get one.

I told him I was going to make one. And every time he'd see me making notes on my diagram or showing it to someone, he's just shake his head. I was showing it off because I was very excited about getting home and making one up. Planning on having a working prototype by Christmas for my son and having the pattern available shortly afterwards for others. I even had my husband show me how to identify the tire size.

Next thing I know, my husband is telling me that Jessy wants to buy Will (my son) a horse swing.

THE MONEY

If you've read my earlier post, you know this week we buried my sister. That's why I ened up visiting my brother. It's also probably why I fixated on the swing so much. It was just something non-painful to think about. Besides, I was really shocked that people paid $70 for these things made from recycled tires. I would NEVER pay $70 for a swing I could make myself. I'm financially-challenged, as well as penny penching. I just can't make myself pay for something I can make myself.

My brother is usually doing better than us. He has a contracting company that does pretty well. But his shop burned down a few months ago and it was grossly under-insured. Not to mention his new Harley was parked there; only one payment ever made. Then my sister died without insurance. Jessy took out a loan to help pay for her funeral and he feed all the family for 3-days while we congregated around our home town.

There was no way I was taking money from him for a horse swing.

Today as we were packing up to leave, Jessy's wife left to run an errand. She made it back just in time to walk us out to the truck with the rest of her family. After we say our goodbyes and get our hugs, Jessy tries to slip some money into the truck. Steve immediately tells him we don't want it. Jessy's response was, "It'll be easier for her to make a pattern if she has something to take apart first." And I wanted to cry.

He may not have understood my point of view, but he was trying to understand what I needed and give it to me. I decided right then I wouldn't fight him about it. Jessy gave the money to my son and told him to buy a horsey. After we drove off my husband asked me what I wanted to do with the money and I told him to stop at the store. And we bought a horse.

THE PATTERN

I may, or may not, ever get the pattern designed. It's way different than the type of thing I normally sell on my site. But hanging it in my back yard was the first thing I did when I got home. And every time I push my son in it, or watch it sway in my back yard, I'll feel love and think of my brother.

Thank you Jessy.