Journal 17 - Bonding with Nature

There are woods behind my neighborhood, Harrison Park, that I used to explore when I was little. There was a couple of man made bridges that I discovered in my attempts to cross the "river" (okay it was a stream, but when it had rained and there was a lot of water, it was very wide). But of course, I was a curious little kid and had to find other means to cross the river. There was a tire in the middle of the stream that seemed stable. I decided to jump on it and use it as a stepping stone to cross the wide river. It was not stable. I bonded with nature as I went face first in the cold water and my foot sunk into the mud. The tire completely sunk into the mud and disappeared. As did my left shoe. I climbed out of the bank and laid down in the soft warm grass. Then I realized my shoe was still in the river. I was already wet so I figured jumping back in would not hurt anything. Of course my mother disagreed when she got a look at me when I returned home, but that does not matter. I fished around in the creek until I found my shoe. I hopped out and tried to get as much mud off myself as I could with the surrounding leaves and branches. There was a breeze and I was quickly chilled to the bone. So I decided that was enough adventuring for the day and backtracked across the bridge and headed home. I tried to sneak in the house without being noticed, but that is hard when you squish with every step. That was my up close experience with nature. I learned that the bottom of a creek, and the objects in them are not as stable as they appear to be. I also learn that I am immune to poison ivy as there was a leaf stuck to the back of my shirt that was a poison ivy leaf (I guess picking leaves from the ground and bushes is not the smartest thing to do).