You get out of the car and stretch a bit. Your muscles feel a little achy and you’re just a little irritated about how long it took to get to the nature park.

At the edge of the parking lot is the sign that marks the trailhead. As you walk closer you see the pegs along the rail with another sign that reads:

WORRIES NOT PERMITTED

LEAVE ON PEG AND FORGET THEM IF YOU’D LIKE

You walk by a little confused by what it means. You tell yourself that you’re not worried about anything.

The bugs come to greet you, but you swat them away and get annoyed. “I wouldn’t have come if I had realized there would be this many bugs,” you say to yourself.

After a while you come to the top of a hill. The bugs aren’t bad here so you decide to sit down for a while. A bird flies in and sits on a branch in the tree next to you. He starts cleaning himself. You think to yourself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could be as care free as that bird.”

As the bird leaves, you look back and see an object rolling down the hill. “What the heck is that?” you ask as you get up to investigate.

At the bottom of the ravine you see this ugly blob with something written on it. “Rumors….” you turn it over so you can read the rest, “Rumors people spread about me.” You jump back startled. Confused, you walk back up to the trail. “What did that mean?” you ponder.

You walk along the trail for a few minutes deep in thought. You catch movement out of the corner of your eye and turn to see what it was.

It’s another blob even bigger and uglier hanging from a tree limb. You walk back a few steps closer so you can see what this one says. “What you should be doing.”

As you continue down the trail, you have a slight feeling of being a little lighter but you can’t quite put your finger it. You also notice that the bugs aren’t bothering you anymore. They’re still there, you just aren’t annoyed by them.

As you turn a corner in the trail you come within a few feet of a doe and her fawn. You stand there staring at each other. You don’t even know how much time passed because you were caught up in the innocence of the moment. The deer, determining that you aren’t a threat, move on into the woods as you watch them meander along.

After a while, you break from your trance and realize that you’re by yourself again. As you start to go, you look down and see what looks like a pile of scat. As you hop-scotch around it, you realize they look almost exactly like the last two blobs you saw. You bend over and realize they all have letters on them. It looks like they spell: “L I F E  C R A P.”

You feel a little weirded out but at the same time you feel relieved.

You move on down the trail. You stop at some flowers and bend over to smell them. As you do, you feel something roll off your back and land softly in the grass beyond the flowers. It’s bigger than the rest. It clearly reads, “Life’s Burdens.”

You move on down the trail and you start to notice cars moving by. As you come closer you see your car parked in the lot and you realize that you’re back at the trail head.

As you walk by the sign again you look over and this time it says:

SEE YOU AGAIN SOON

As you drive away, you feel.…relaxed…no, free. You’re already planning your next trip to the trail.