Treasure - of a different sort.

We had no babysitter the evening of Justin’s and Becca’s school conferences. Kari mentioned we should take the kids with us. I protested. Knowing Justin he would cause nothing but interruptions at conferences. I opted to let him make the decision. His options where; 1) Go to the school conferences with all of us. 2) Go in the woods with Dad.

The woods were crispy and fresh smelling. He was quiet and had a tendency to wander in different directions than my intentions. There seems to be a passion in him to walk in water. Our evening was incredibly different than the previous day with Becca. Both days were very enjoyable, however Justin complained more. He insisted we were lost. He thought every deer trail I walked on was going in the wrong direction and a couple times he refused to follow. I picked up my pace to keep him walking.

I soon realized he kept stopping and crossing his legs while in the standing position. I asked him if he had to pee. He said he did but that he would hold it. I felt terrible, I trained him never to pee near my deer stands and here he was trying his darnest to follow-through with my desires. I quickly explained that it was fine to pee in the woods this time of the year and that he was a good boy for asking. We peed together. We had a little peeing for distance contest right on the north side of the back 40.

We passed several unique spots in the woods and spent some time standing around looking at moss, deer beds, and some remnants of a canine sort meal. Justin seemed much more relaxed after our little break and he was back to enjoying his day in the woods with me. He did argue with me, about the swamp being a field. I insisted it was a swamp and he insisted it was a field. I reminded him I know this woods better than he did and if he didn’t believe me he could go walk over there and look for himself. He said that was ok.

The sun started to go down and we had almost a mile to get back to home. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. Kari texted and said they were back home. School conferences went good. Becca is a top notch student. Justin is doing well too. He needs to learn how to listen even when he doesn’t want too. Julia thought the conferences were for her and was fine as long as she got her bubble gum. Conferences were no surprise so that’s good.

We started our journey back; Justin wanted to walk on groomed trails. I talked him into taking deer trails back because it would cut our walk distance by half. He agreed and followed with big approving steps at my heels.

Justin’s bottom lip quivered when the coyotes started howling. One howled long and near, followed by a second coyote, then a third, then a fourth. It was a haunting sound echoing through the leafless trees. I stopped and looked at Justin. His eyes were big. He was clearly scared. He whispered to me asking if those were wolves. I told him they were coyotes. His little lip was uncontrollably shaking. I patted my side and told him not to worry, I have a gun.

His muscles went to a relaxed stage and then the 101 questions started about coyotes. I answered them all. We continued and he got braver, he howled to fool the coyotes by making them think he was one of them. I helped him howl. We howled together as the darkness moved in. Ooo ooo—Ooo ooo