Adventures in the Back Forty

There's this wild, unexplored place that we visit sometimes, someone I know refers to this place as The Back Forty. Today, Archer went outside armed only with a long rope and we were entertained by watching him throw it over a tree branch, secure it on another branch, and then swing off that rope, take turns with his sister, get bored with that and start tying up other trees... Well, I digress. The Back Forty is calling.

He left the rope and disappeared for awhile. A long while. I started thinking about the recent news story about the kids that had been approached by a stranger but knew enough to run away. I assured myself that Archer hadn't gone anywhere near the road, or strangers, he was... in The Back Forty. A place filled with a secret fort, brush to be cleared in forging new trails, and treasures to be discovered. He finally appeared again, beckoning me to come outside. He needed to show me something. I really didn't think there could be anything he could show me that would be new. I lived just steps away from The Back Forty for 18 years of my life. I spent a lot of time in the secret fort. I INVENTED the secret fort (along with a couple of other conspirators). Sigh, what could Archer possibly think is so great?

He showed me a little place, he called it a clearing, and when I tried to stand up straight instead of bending over inside the "clearing" the branches got stuck in my hair. I pointed this out to him and he told me to stand right over HERE and there was a tiny little spot where I could stand up stright with no twigs in my hair. With my growing-up son in front of me, full of pride and discovery, it somehow looked new. A brand new place to explore and share with each other.