Kindred Spirit

Today, my wife had a seminar to attend after work, so Troy and I had a “boys only” outing to Heritage Park. I thought he would want to play on the playground, but there were a lot of kids out enjoying the weather, and Troy wasn’t feeling it. Besides, it’s lost a little something without his Giagia to chase him around, pretending to be a T-Rex. So, we decided to explore the hiking trail instead.

At first, Troy was content to follow the concrete path and see the animal statues. But all of a sudden, he saw a shortcut through the woods that someone had made, and he wanted to see where it went. I told him that it wasn’t a good idea because we could get lost. And he said, “But there might be a bear or wolf in there.” To which I replied, “That’s another reason why we shouldn’t go in there.” He took another hard look at the path, seemed to make up his mind, and said, “It’ll be okay, dada. Let’s go!” And off he went with me trailing behind him.

We fought our way through brambles that tore at our clothes, low-hanging tree limbs that whacked us in the face (at least for me), and tree roots dead set on tripping us. The path wound down next to a ravine with a shear drop-off on one side and several places where the path had washed out. Troy never hesitated. He held his hand up to me and said, “Be careful, dada,” and he trudged on; exploring, hiking, alive. An obstacle was not a reason to turn back, but a way to test your strength, your resolve, and your ingenuity. This was what he was made for!

When we made it to the bottom of the ravine, we found a crude stone stairway on the other side, climbing back up. Troy attacked the steps, even though the height of each one stretched his little legs to their limits. Watching Troy go off road like this reminded me of taking vacations with my parents when I was a kid. My favorite ones involved hiking in the mountains. While they followed the path, I’d always trudge off into the wilderness to explore. I guess I found a kindred spirit in my son…someone else that likes to explore the unknown.

When we finally made it back to “civilization,” he decided that he needed to fight me (his exact words). So, we found some sticks under a tree and had a sword fight next to the parking lot, much to the delight of all the other people walking to and from their cars. While I tried to employ the more-refined epee style that I learned in my fencing class, Troy embraced the wild-swinging saber style that he’s seen on TV. Needless to say that while I held my own, mostly due to my strength and superior arm length, Troy did get a few lucky licks in, and as my bloody knuckles would suggest, they were effective and extremely painful.

It was a great way to spend a few hours, and we both should sleep well tonight. I’m thankful that I get these times to spend with Troy. He’s a lot of fun, and I love doing “manly” things with him.