Notes: We've been trying to get our son Forest out into his first proper forests lately. He's very little, so we haven't been taking him on ambitious hikes, just nice nature walks on nearby public land. "Way Out Here" doesn't refer to some vast wilderness in this context. I'm talking about the simple natural beauty of splendid ordinary spaces in Maine, in contrast to the wonderful city that we left and often miss.
We have various reasons for deciding not to raise our family in New York, fantastic though a childhood there could surely have been. We came way out here so Forest could connect with nature, so he could live with it and know it, so he could understand wild spaces before they are ruined, many in his own lifetime. Maybe he would want to help care for our ailing mother Earth. Maybe he would value the land enough to be its friend and steward in some simple or profound way. Maybe he would simply enjoy it.
I'm certainly enjoying getting out there with my little family, and I'm looking forward to watching Forest grow big and strong like the trees for which he was named.
lyrics
We're packing a bag
We're getting out
The sound of the stream
Is all around us
Way out here
Open your eyes
What can you see?
The green of the moss
The sway of the trees
You will in time
What does it mean?
Does anyone know?
To follow a path
And see where it goes
Way out here