My 39 years working in education involved interacting with large numbers of people, an inflexible schedule, and lots and lots of noise. When summer came, I would relax into the freedoms of flexibility and noise reduction, enjoy my children, and look forward to the years when summer’s freedoms would become year-round.
Now retired, I live my dream. I hike our property; I trim shrubs; I pile up dropped limbs; I read good books; I write this column and I write a family history for our grandson. I am busy. I am happy; happy right up to the moment when I’m not.
I’m not happy? I’ve been doing what I want to do. I’ve been busy, but in my pursuit of my retirement dream. I haven’t connected with my friends in a while. As the unfortunate Hamlet says in Shakespeare’s play by the same name, “Aye, there’s the rub.”
Lately, this and that have kept me from regularly hiking, and last week I remedied that by going on a walking party with my hiking friends. One of our members had an iffy ankle and after meeting for breakfast, we walked the Townsend River Walk and Arboretum.
As we walked, one of my friends described her wonderful trip back to her native Canada, seeing some relatives and cruising down the St. Lawrence River. Another friend and I talked about Savannah’s GEM program, while another friend and I had our usual time joking around.
We stopped at the Townsend Artisans Guild Gallery, a wonderful shop to which several of our hiking group contribute. We identified hiker Carol’s paintings, hiker Kat’s gorgeous scarves, and hiker Kathy’s quilting skills. At this point, most of the hikers returned to their cars, but a small group of us split off and visited a local artist’s gallery and home before taking a different route back to our cars.
Back in the 1980s, I read an article about Japanese Forest Bathing. Ninety percent of the Japanese live in cities and going to the woods was a new concept for them. I realized how fortunate I was to live close enough to the woods to walk quietly in them, absorb the view and breathe in the soul-saving joy of beauty and nature.
I’d forest bathed all my life.
After the walking party, on my long drive home, I decided I’d been friends bathing for the same reasons the Japanese forest bath. I’d spent the day absorbing the beauty of friendships; I’d calmed down, I’d breathed in conversations and laughter, and I’d come away content and happy once again.
Just as forest bathing is essential to our lives, friendships are essential as well. Good old Shakespeare comes through once again when he says in Sonnet 30, “But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored and sorrows end.”
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell.
