After considerably longer than it should have taken, I am
down to reading aloud the final two chapters of the Lord of the Rings to my
daughter, Sarah. We began our journey
well over a year ago and Tom Bombadil and Ring Wraiths are distant
memories. All that remains is taking
care of business in the Shire and then goodbyes on the shore. I am certain tears will ensue as we approach
the end – as they did when I finished reading to my son. They will be mine.
I don’t know why I buy in so much. I read the books first in high school – now more than thirty years past. As an awkward and insecure young man, there was something in the story that held sway against a seemingly dead-end future. More than just an adventure, the books drew me into a world that where the lines were cleanly cut. In our fallen world, we struggle with decisions, not knowing what the ‘right’ thing to do is. We get caught up in keeping up appearances. We set aside higher ideals for the mundane – often because we’re just worn out at the end of the day.
I don’t know why I buy in so much. I read the books first in high school – now more than thirty years past. As an awkward and insecure young man, there was something in the story that held sway against a seemingly dead-end future. More than just an adventure, the books drew me into a world that where the lines were cleanly cut. In our fallen world, we struggle with decisions, not knowing what the ‘right’ thing to do is. We get caught up in keeping up appearances. We set aside higher ideals for the mundane – often because we’re just worn out at the end of the day.
In Middle-Earth, the air was bright and clean – or dark and
nasty. The valiant are noble and strong
– or the enemy is slothful and cruel. Orcs
are much cleverer in this world. Wizards
are not always who they seem to be.
Sometimes those who wander really are lost. In our world, we fight against friction and
time. I’ve been at it so long now, that I
have pretty well forgotten what it is like to be young. To be uninhibited and my only business was
one of play. I’m grown up. It kind of slipped up on me while I was busy making
money and making plans. My own idea of adventure slowly faded away.
I remember standing on top of the hill behind my parents’
home with a Sony Walkman clipped on my belt.
I was listening to the soundtrack to the animated feature ‘The Return of
the King’, which did a passable job of capturing the ethos of
Middle-Earth. That particular hill faces
south and offers a majestic panorama of the valley I called home and the
surrounding mountains. To the east, the
mountains trailed off into the unknown. I
distinctly recall (rather pitifully and) winsomely gazing in that direction and
wondering what lay off that way and thinking it would be my great adventure. To a young man struggling with self-doubt,
those hills might have been a thousand miles away. The thoughts of bigger and better things
were clouded and mysterious.
If you were to Google-Earth that hill top now and pan about
11 miles to the east, you would find my home.
We are tucked on another hill that – to the west – looks back toward my
childhood home. Just over the hills. In winter, I fight to get in (and out)
through the snow. In summer the weeds
take over and mowing is a chore. But at
night in the winter, with no light for miles, the milky-way wheels overhead and
fills the sky. In summer, blackberries
drop by the handfuls into buckets and tomato sandwiches are divine. Snakes are waiting under the rocks and fall
leaves wrap us in a coat of many-colors.
Spring smells as it should – clean and inviting. It says come outside.
Frodo and Sam are eternal.
They live in the hearts of those that love true ideals and the idea that
hard things are worth doing. The years
have not been for naught. Here in the
woods and the fields, I can find them living still. This adventure is well underway.
Lovely post.
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