Hunting for Treasure

Lucky for us we live on a dead end street. Dead end really gives a false sense of reality though because at the end of our road is really where everything begins. My fearless husband and oldest were the first to traverse this unknown land a few years ago, coming upon a stream (housing gar fish and nutria), trails, snakes, and the occasional egret. They soon shared their secret with the baby and I when the baby was old enough to start exploring no man's land. Last year, though, we came upon the best kept secret hidden among thorns and overgrown weeds; blackberries. Like little jewels just waiting to be plucked, these little morsels of goodness had to have been left especially for our family from angels, or so we like to think. Last year our blackberries grew on the edge of a sloping hill leading to the stream, and also on the slope. The girls and I would pick on level land, while DG ventured down the hill (as most overgrown boys would do). This year we checked on our blackberries weekly, and with a new keen eye for blackberry bushes even began noticing more bushes around our town (M referring to one road not as its traditional name, but as "Blackberry Valley" for all of the treasure it held on its banks). Finally we thought we had come to our first day of picking, and, in long pants (so to avoid the poison ivy), bug spray, and bins, we were on our way. As we approached the stream we saw that our neighborhood's landscapers had trimmed down the level land before the sloping hill leading to the stream to make way for more trails (didn't they know these were our berries?). I had visions of only my husband making the trek down the overgrown slope in search of treasure, but I should have known better. Daughters trust their Daddys, even on sloping hills. Off my oldest went, while the two year-old and I found a shade tree to sit under. The scene that unfolded before us was something that a picture wouldn't do justice. They were both close enough that K and I could see them, but far enough away that I felt like I was peaking in on what I know someday will be just a distant memory of a day that went by too fast.