We live next door to a piece of undeveloped land, a field really that has a small stream and some trees and bushes. We call it “The Wild.” I nicknamed it that right after we moved in when our kids were still relatively little and the name just stuck. I will be honest and say that I love the name. I liked the Huckleberry Finn-ness of it all when I dubbed it that. It seemed to evoke a simpler time and way of growing up where kids looked for tadpoles and played outside for hours. And for a time, it definitely was. My kids are getting to be on the other side of that time now, and it is a little bit sad. But sometimes, normally when friends are over, they are reminded that the wild is still out there and off they will tromp. It now often involves a little more laser tag and a little less fort building, but it is still a choice that makes my heart happy.

A couple of weeks ago my eldest turned 14. He had a host of friends over and there was the requisite pizza and sugar fest before they headed to see the last Avengers movie (it is so, so, so good!). Even with all the teenage-ness here, with pizza and sugar, some of the kids still snuck into the wild with the laser tag guns. They had such a good timing running around that I suppose it was inevitable that the back gate was left open. Please then cue the phone call from the neighbors the next day about my dogs escaping through The Wild into their yard.

So why the full story about The Wild, the birthday, and the dogs? Well, my giveaway this past week was courtesy of that little adventure. The last three weeks I have been giving away the cacio e pepe bread I am recently so enamored with. It has been a gift to the person who first fed me cacio e pepe pasta, a teacher appreciation gift, and of course, a “thank you for rescuing my dogs and calling us surprise.”

I also guess I like that The Wild is still giving us unexpected things. In this situation, a person to give my bread to and a place for kids on the brink of growing up to just be kids. Back when we moved in, I assumed (hoped and prayed?) The Wild would be that special place that was secure in their childhood memories that was full of possibility and the unknown. As I look out at The Wild now, I sort of realize that we all need a wild place, not just in childhood, but always. I think our hearts need the freedom to explore where things are uncertain, un-tame, and, well, wild. A place where possibilities are open, and you don’t know where the road will lead. I am, in general, a play it safe kind of girl, but being open to a wild place is something I have to remind myself to do every so often. Even though, or maybe especially because it doesn’t come naturally to me. I think it is a bit of tonic for the soul in that it awakens and refreshes you…although I could definitely live without the skunk that occasionally calls my wild home.