Secret Pond Landscape

Secret Pond

Everyone needs a secret, special place to call their own.  I used to have a place like this when I was a teenager living in Hendersonville, TN.  We lived on Bayshore Drive, and at the end of the drive, there was a cove which backed up to the woods.  I'd ride my bike down there every day, and follow a path through the trees to the edge of the beautiful lake.  I'd sit for hours on the log of a fallen tree, and write poetry and stories in my journal.  Eventually, man came in and destroyed my beautiful, secret place, replacing the trees with bricks and stone and placing windows to offer a view.  It will never replace the original view, the one where I could listen to the rustle of the breeze filter through the branches above my head, and feel the cool spray of water on my face.  Fortunately, the memories are strong enough where I can close my eyes and still smell the scent of the water, see the fish jumping as they celebrate life, and hear the sounds of the birds singing all around me.  But for those days I can't pull up the memory, I have this picture to help me remember.

--Jai