Taking a Stroll in the Snow!

Yesterday began as a normal school day. I woke up and went to school, prepared to stay late because of my music ministry rehearsal which I have every Thursday. However on this particular day we did not have practice. I did not know this however until I waited in the music room for a half hour until my music teacher told me that it was canceled. Frustrated that they could not address this over the announcements before I came, I wondered what I should do with the remainder of my time until my mom came to pick me up. When I walked outside I found that it was snowing! This was such a beautiful sight! It was so beautiful that I decided to spend my time taking a stroll in the Seminary Woods which are right in the backyard of my high school.

Inside the woods was warm. My feet crunched the thousands of leaves under my feet. I tried to look for deer, but I saw a lot of squirrels instead. It was fun to watch them bounce around in the piles of leaves on the side of the path I was walking. As I continued to walk, I saw an old man walking his dog. I wondered where he had come from. I had not seen him before. He looked like he could barely walk, perhaps this was why he had a cane. I watched as he trudged up the leave covered hills. I wondered where he was going. Then as quickly as he appeared, he was gone.

Soon it began getting dark. Mist started to roll in from all around me. I decided to keep walking however, because of my desire to sit and pray at the Grotto which was somewhere in the thick of the forest. As I made my way through the woods, I came upon the cemetery that I had passed through many times. It contained all of the graves of seminarians, priests and nuns from years past. I wanted to stop there for a while, but as I came closer and closer I began to grow afraid. I was all alone and I felt scared. The cemetery seemed eerie and creepy. I wondered why this was because in my years that I trudged this path I had never felt this way. The cemetery began to fill with mist as I watched from abroad. As I watched, I began to grow more afraid. Slowly I began to back pedal down the path that I came from. I made my way back out of the woods and walked toward the seminary library where my mom was coming to pick me up.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I pondered why I had felt uneasy while I was in the woods. Maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. I wish I had had enough courage to brave the cemetery in the woods. I'm sure it would have been beautiful, but for some reason I felt discomfort. Perhaps the next time I stay late for school I can have a chance to go back to the woods and take a quiet stroll. Have any of you ever felt the same way I did?