"Will I Remember?" - Garry Eoff

 

Will I remember life as a boy after I have grown older, turning from a young man as I cross the boundaries of adolescence to manhood?  Will I remember the springs of Grandpa Mc and the memories may become useless to the thoughts and desires of a man, one day I will be?

The water source, I am told, never stops flowing, the eternal fountain of youth that Balboa looked for is mine, all mine, for no one has yet to find this hiding place.

 

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Today, I have rearranged my campground with my hammock strung between two cedars, silent sentries of my pond.  It is here that I am ready to sleep and allow the day’s labors of setting up camp, drip off of me as the netting of the cocoon holds me in a tight embrace.  It is here that in my dreams there are lands to conquer and mine to lay control.  As the years go by and I cross the boundaries into manhood, will I remember?

 

The day dawns as the morning light pries my eyes open with the red-tailed hawk calling with authority of his power and might to earth’s creatures far below.  Will I claim more land for Grandpa Mc as I plow the day before me, following the springs to the land below?  What unknown force seeks to keep me from doing so?

I sit here on the rocks below my hammock with coffee in hand, the sound of the trickling stream accompanying my thoughts.  Alone with no one but God and His world around, enfolding me, my thoughts now roam to a year from now, five, then, twenty, thirty plus more years and I wonder, will that man, me, remember this day, this moment in time when Grandpa Mc made me ruler of all lands both near and far?  In the meantime, here I am, staff in hand, surveying my pond, my ocean of water to tame. 

Kneeling, he stares at his reflection and gazes at the boy as he waits to cross the boundaries into manhood and wonders, will he remember this time and place he calls his kingdom and wonder aloud once again, will he remember?  The answer he believes will be, “Yes! I will!

This was written after visiting Kent Bogle on his ranch outside of Trent, Tx. As a boy, Kent wandered the countryside exploring the 27,000 acre ranch that was acquired by his great-grandfather Mr. and Mrs. McLain. It is here that memories were made, and memories continue to be made. Although well beyond the childhood years, the experiences had on the ranch are still vivid in his memory. This writing tells of my interpretation of what Kent has shared with me.