Blog Post

The Wild Child and the Little Explorer

June 28, 2020

“Do not go far! You do not know what kind of creatures lurk in these woods.” The mother tickled her son.

“Okay. Okay. I won’t. Can I explore now?” The little son asked pushing out of his mother’s grip. 

The mother and father began to set up the camp as the little boy wandered off to begin his exploration.

The woods made his imagination come alive. Thinking to himself: what if there were creatures out here?

Dragons, he thought, could be flying in the sky. Fairies in the trees, or unicorns. Maybe not unicorns, they seemed to like to stab things far too much. The little boy shuddered, definitely not unicorns.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a little girl run through the forest with her wild, long hair flying freely behind her.

The little explorer ran after the wild child trying to catch her to see where she came from. 

The wild child saw the little explorer and disappeared into a clump of three aspen trees. 

The little explorer sat in front of the trees and waited.

Time passed slowly, but the little explorer was determined not to give up.

A little head looked around, barely noticeable, looking as if it was apart of the tree. The wild child slowly crept out of the tree, not seeing the little explorer watching with curious eyes.

“Are you a magical creature?” The little explorer asked.

The wild child turned her head, losing color as she realized she was caught.

“What are you?” she asked cautiously.

“A boy.”

“Obviously.” She said rolling her eyes, “But what creature are you? Are you human?”

“Yes. Are you a magic creature?” he asked again.

“I can’t answer. I’m not supposed to talk to humans. Before you ask, why is that, it is because they burn our forests and hurt others of our kind.”

“I don’t.”

“You have never hurt anyone?”

“No. Yes. But I bet you have to too!” 

“Maybe you are right. Why did you follow me?”

“Because you came out of nowhere. I thought maybe another family was camping here.

“Even if it was someone else, following someone isn’t nice.”

“I was curious. Are you a magic creature?”

“Yes. I am a Dryad, or Nymph.”

“What is the difference?”

“Well, when first used Dryad was only for oak trees dwellers. Nymph is a term for any other tree dweller. All of us are connected to the forest. We live in and are connected to the trees. We are born with a tree and it becomes apart of the whole. Connected to the roots.”

“So they mean the same thing and you don’t live in a house?”

“Yes. Is that not what I just said? And of course, we still live in a house of sorts. Our ancestors didn’t, but it has changed over the years. We prefer to use our trees for travel and for safe havens. Since all the trees are connected it also gives us the ability to communicate with others.”

The two sat talking, asking each other questions about each other’s different worlds. Over the next few days, they played, explored, and asked more questions.

The little boy had to go back to his world but came camping over the next three years again.

But with time came changes, some for good, some for bad, but all taught the boy a lesson.

He focused on school, forgetting about his desire to explore, and settled for getting answers rather than asking questions.

He was successful, he had everything anyone would have wanted, just not what he wanted.

He wondered where it had all gone wrong, where he lost what made him happy. It is not that he wasn’t happy in some regard. His life was easy, his family was well taken care of, he had all that he wanted, but something was missing.

“Yes, mom I am almost packed. Where did the family choose to go again?” He asked packing his charger.

“The whole family voted and decided a camping trip would be fun this year. I suggested the old camping spot that we used to take you.”

“We went to every desirable vacation spot and now they want to camp?”

“Yes. They thought it would be fun to make smore, play volley ball, go hiking, to the lake, and just enjoy being around each other. When we are the other places we hardly get to see anyone.”

“Isn’t that the point?” He asked, not being serious at all.

“Very funny. When does your flight leave?”

“Too soon now considering I need to repack for the woods. I don’t even know if I have camping clothes.”

“Just bring anything you don’t mind smelling like a campfire for a few days.”

“Fine. I love you and will text you when the flight lands.”

“Love you too! See you at the airport!” His mom said as he almost hung up, “Oh! Wait! Are you bringing anyone with you?”

“Mom, I will let you, grandma, and everyone else know when I am ready to bring home anyone.”

“Okay, I love you!”

“Love you too!”

After smacking the one hundredth bug bite he wondered why he ever liked the woods. It was so quiet, had so many bugs, and was so dirty. 

As he looked up he thought about the possibilities, of the type of birds he would see. The days passed slowly and didn’t seem like a vacation at all.  

He walked amongst the trees, alone. It felt odd. Something pulled inside him as the explorer he was before seemed to take over, if even slightly. 

He remembered an imaginary friend he made one time. A girl, connected to the trees. Someone each time he came seemed to appear out of nowhere and make his world so much brighter with the talk of possibilities and curious questions that may never be solved. 

That seemed like such a long time ago, such a long time since he let his mind wander and his curious nature ask such silly questions.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye and followed the movement. A woman, with her wild, long hair flowing freely behind her.

“This can’t be happening.” He said taking off after the woman.

The woman ran away and toward a grove of trees. The man somehow knew that he needed to stop her before she reached the trees if he wanted to know where she came from.

He beat her to the grove and held his hands up to try to get her to settle.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” He asked.

“As if I would tell you. Let me pass.”

“Why? Where are you going?”

“To the trees.”

“Just to the trees?”

“You are so annoying. Just let me go.” The woman held the bridge of her nose in her hand, “Why does this feel so familiar?”

She looked up and studied the man and almost got more annoyed.

“I swear Daniel let me go. I do not have the patience to deal with you today.”

“How do you know my name?” he asked.

“You were a dunce then and a dunce now. I’m leaving.”

“Are you the imaginary girl? Well, I have officially gone crazy.”

“I am not imaginary! And you were always crazy. Glad to know you remembered me.” She said walking away.

“Audrey wait!” He called out and then wondered how he knew that was her name.

“Why Daniel? Clearly you have grown up and given up on all of your plans.”

“What plans?”

“To be an explorer. To ask questions no one wants to ask. To live. To come back and help protect the forest. And then you just disappeared and I knew the human world would make you forget.”

“Maybe I forgot, but I had to learn to be different. I couldn’t be who I was.”

“And how is that going for you now?”

He looked up and then at the beautiful woman in front of him, “It is okay.”

“How do you like your life?” He asked.

“I love my life. I am a scout for my people and a runner. A runner is someone who gets unnecessary supplies for anyone who can’t leave the camp. Fun little trinkets or treats that make life more fun.”

“That is cool.” he said as she turned to go, “Audrey wait! I am sorry I didn’t come back. Even if I did I am not sure if you would like the person I am now.”

“Come back more often and let me decide for myself.” She ran into the trees and disappeared. 

The man came back any chance he could get over the next year. He and the woman getting to talk more often. 

“I don’t know what to do Audrey. I don’t like the person I have become, but I don’t know how or what to do to fix it.”

“You don’t need to fix yourself. You need to unlearn all that you learned to make yourself the person you are now to learn who you were supposed to be. Learn the attributes and the gifts you have forgotten. Unlearn all the bad habits you created and create new ones that are better for you. And you have to decide what you want to do and make the decision to go for it. Time will not wait for you to fix what happened, so take time now to stop the path you are on and start something different. But you have to decide if that is what you want and don’t be afraid to ask for help to get you through.”

The man took her words to heart. He chose to unlearn all that he learned. Habits, thought processes, behaviors, anything he used to build a persona he wasn’t sure was his own.

 He explored the person he could be. Using his attributes and gifts, noticing what they might be. And he changed for the better and learned the lessons that would benefit the rest of his long life.

He found a job protecting the forest and exploring more of the magical world he was slowly welcomed into. He may have not had all that life could offer, but he had what he wanted.

At his family’s next camping trip, a now favored tradition, he walked up hand in hand with a woman. Shocking all his family. 

“Daniel, who is this?” His mother asked.

He turned to the woman that inspired him to change and seek the help that he needed, thankful for her presence in his life.

“This is Audrey.”

And as far as anyone knew the Explorer and his Wild Woman lived happily ever after in the woods that was full of possibility and magic.

Sometimes in life, we have to take inventory of where we are. Even if we have it all it may not be right, even if we think we are who we want to be, it may not be the person we were supposed to be.

It is hard, but the next step is to unlearn all that we had and begin again. In the process we may find out we were exactly where we needed to be, or maybe it may lead to the very thing you were too afraid to go for in the first place. 

Life is the greatest lesson we can learn, and sometimes to continue to make progress we have to start over and begin again.

And then as far as anyone might know we might have our own happily ever after.