My Walk By The Woods
The entire day I was excited for this walk.
I remember coming into work with a big smile that perplexed my boss, then you’d hear me humming while filing the paperwork and working on some papers.
When 6'o clock hit I stepped outside. It wasn’t raining anymore and the clouds were clearing up, I could still get in my daily walk. It was a bit cold outside, I was wearing a thin buttoned-up shirt and some trousers — I wish I had a jacket just in case it started raining again. Still, tossing my bag in the car, I was ready for my venture. There’s a lot of nature around my job, much more than around my house. It's also quite undisturbed, yeah, you’ll still see some cars here and there but overall it was quite empty. Looking around the parking lot I had to decide to either follow the path to the right, which led to more corporate buildings, or follow the path to the left, which led to an open field. At that moment, I didn’t know what I’d find to the right, whenever I had the chance to go for a walk it’d always be the left path — it was shorter. But, I had a lot of time today so I went right.
Walking down the path was serene but I didn’t know what I’d find. The path was a bit elevated with small down-slopping hills on either side, one wrong step and you’d find yourself on a bed of leaves. It wasn’t the worst place to fall, I’d say. I continued walking, one side faced an empty street, and the other faced some corporate buildings. There wasn’t anything too special about this first building I passed and truthfully I didn’t care for it, I was more worried about something else. In front of me was a couple walking their dog. Normally I’m not afraid of dogs but this was a big husky and the owner didn’t seem capable of holding onto the leash. The husky was running up and down the hills on the side of the sidewalk, and thanks to the squeaking of my worn-out sneakers, its ears perked up and it took a big long look at me. Okay, you can’t blame me for this but I ended up running into the nearby parking lot of the building next to me. The last thing I’d want is to be chased by a dog while wearing a polo button-up. The couple passed, giving me the weirdest stares. Not the best start to a walk but it’d been barely five minutes since I started — there was plenty of time to turn it around.
Anyway, I got back on the sidewalk and passed the crossing. Another building, another parking lot. Though I could barely see it, the downward slope on the building side became up-sloped after the crossing and was densely wooded. This building was interesting, though, so I followed the little side footpath that led into the parking lot of the building and took a small detour. Standing outside it I noticed it was quite modern. The entrance was a round-about, two flags were on a pole by the entrance, one was American, the other I’m not quite sure; there was also a small fountain in the center of the round-about, to the left the parking lot expanded to fill about seventy cars, a black and gold fence surrounded the building, a strong gate guarded its front. The building seemed to tower some 6 stories, each full of dozens of vertical windows. I aimed to get into the courtyard for a better look, but the security guard by the gate already had her eye on me, so I turned around nervously and followed the little footpath back to the sidewalk. Then, I continued straight and crossed onto another sidewalk. A few cars were coming here and there, I waited for an opening and dashed across. Another building with another parking lot. This building was quite far but from what I could tell, was a red brick building, roughly 2 stories high. In comparison, the parking lot looked huge. There wasn’t much to say about this one, however the lake behind it was clean and had a little bench. I noticed a family of ducks by that bench and stood watching them take off into the distance. Down the path, the area became more wooded. To the right of me faced the road which was sandwiched between another set of buildings on the other side — I’d come back and visit that side some other day. On the left of me were dense woods separated by a thin fence. I never understood these fences. In comparison, it was so small, so insignificant, so pale next to the heavily dense forest with towering trees. I imagined the entire fence being decimated if one tree somehow managed to topple. It was quiet and peaceful, but perhaps too monotonous. Untraceable woods on one side, an empty road on the other.
A short while later I noticed a clearing ahead. The other side of the road was cleared into a flat plain, a football field! It was empty but a nice change of pace, I could see the goalposts, thinly cut grass, and sets of vehicles parked to the side, on the grass. I wasn’t sure how the vehicles got there, I didn’t see any path off the curb. The field looked brand new, the markings from post to post were vibrant and the grass was cut short— I thought of coming there again in the future, to watch from afar. As a kid I loved football, referring to the European definition. To me, it's the best sport and also the only one I diligently found myself watching. I used to play football a lot as a kid. It was one of the sports I hated playing but loved watching, it just always felt so strategic when you could watch all the players from afar and then attempt to predict their moves. I was terrible at that but this field brought me a rush of memories from the days I used to be part of a local team. It fell apart after quarantine in 2020.
I was in a much better mood now, and as I walked I started to notice the wooded area to my side was starting to clear up too, some more cars started passing by and I assumed there was another building close up ahead. But, I was somewhat wrong and happy about it. As the dense forest cleared up I was struck with such an amazing view. The right opened up a large lake surrounded by wooded forest, ahead of me the path became more wooded and trees surrounded the path. And to the left was still the open field with goal posts and other such things. I took in the bliss feeling, the air hitting me from the side, my hair flying everywhere — that was the biggest problem I had with my long hair. As I mentioned earlier, the surroundings next to the path changed. It became more wooded with trees scattered around creating their microcosm along the path. As I walked through the wooded area I was left in awe. All different kinds of trees surrounded me, some were tall, with thick bark that didn’t branch out until a few 10 or so feet. There were those thick oaks that started with thinner pieces of bark that started branching a few 5 or so feet off the ground. Then there were those very light brown trees, almost chocolate-like, that had no distinguishable piece of bark — everything was homogeneous, flowing as one. These branched off straight from the ground. The path was no longer than 30 feet but I took it slow. I looked to the left, to the right, and finally up. The sky was hard to spot out past these branches, and there were small seeds that fell from above, to find themselves back along the path, renewing the never-ending circle of life.
Once I got through I noticed two more corporate buildings with their respective parking lots. They weren’t very unique so I didn’t keep them much in my memory. I wanted to leave off on a good note so this is when I started walking back. I walked past the wooded trees, the open lake, and the empty football field. I passed by the dense forest and reached the crosswalk where I was greeted by the corporate buildings on either side. I walked past the red brick building with the ducks, then past the large gated roundabout with the flag pole. Finally, I crossed past the road and was met with the first building that I had ignored for the husky. This building, now taking a good look, was quite large. It had a balcony on the third or fourth floor that faced the road, there was also this oddly placed bench and table. It looked like it was made of marble but looked worn out, it had become dull and covered with a mossy exterior.
Finally, I made it back to the building I worked at, unlocked my car, and drove off. As I drove off I went down the same direction I walked, seeing all the sights I had just walked by. Then as I made it past the two buildings I stopped I noticed that the road went on, and on, until it was met with a busy street. I’m glad I stopped where I did, before the storm.
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