Sunday Walks Again
If Sunday Jones could walk, he would explore the woods with his devoted comfort dog Lincoln.
Sunday Jones walked many miles daily in his mind.
Through forests he walked with Lincoln until he reached the deep woods.
As they trekked slowly through the trees, in his memory, Sunday thought of all the good times hiking through the woods to the lake at the bottom of the trail.
Sunday lay on his bed with Queenie, and whispered to her their destination today. “Girl, let’s go down to the lake today.”
Even though Sunday couldn’t move his legs, Queenie wagged her tail and moved closer to cuddle. This ritual was comforting to both and usually occurred after Sunday’s wife had taken Lincoln for a romp in the yard. The house was quiet.
The trees whispered welcome as they traveled through the twists and turns in the woods. Sunday loved the smells of trees on the soft path down to the lake. He didn’t have to leash Lincoln who ran ahead, then back, and ahead again. He hoped the sun would come out soon.
Lincoln snuggled closer as the sun rose. His feet began to twitch. Sunday shifted his upper body and sat under the weeping willow on the bank above the lake. The sun was beginning to rise just as he fell deeper into sleep.
It was a perfect sunny walk.
Diane K24: Thank you so very much for sharing and for your moving story.
Beautiful, beautiful narrative and photograph.
Your photograph (Harshil Gudka) shows a wood path trod clean by footsteps.
A wood-path is so very pregnant with symbolism that one of the 20th century's great works in the philosophy of aesthetics was the "Wood-Paths" (Holzwege). Especially in Germany, with a dear friend -- she is like a first cousin in relation to me -- we took wood-paths around the village of Alsenborn in the Rheinpfalz countless times, passing memorials.
Unfortunately, it has been a while since I was "home" -- I hope to make this up in '24 and '25, but the village has in the meantime improved the paths. See:
https://www.enkenbach-alsenborn.de/lebenswert/freizeitaktivitaeten/erlebnis-wandern/lebenspfad/
Being in nature will do that.