I wipe the tears from my eyes. My parents are fighting again. I just need to…get away for an hour. Their fighting wasn’t bad but it could drive me crazy. Especially today, I had finally finished one of my best paintings and had gotten second place in the art contest today. But they hadn’t noticed instead they were going on about why Dad wasn’t going to one of Mom’s work parties.

One of the benefits to living out in the middle of no where, is the acres of land that we own. When I need to ‘get away’ I retreat to the forest. It takes about ten minutes of walking around before I find a good spot to settle down. I sit down against the trunk of one of the larger trees and rest my head against it and close my eyes. The wind rustles the branches and my hair gently. I smile at the whispering wind that soothes me and I listen to the otherwise silent forest. When I’m out here it’s hard to believe that anything could be wrong.

My mind wanders to my finished art project. It was a picture of five horses running in the open field. There was a bay, a black, a chestnut, a gray, and a dappled gray. In the background of the picture there was a gate where a little boy was peeking through at the horses. I look around at my surroundings, which are beautiful in their own unique way. An idea comes to me and I lay down on the forest floor looking straight up.

I could see the tops of the trees but I couldn’t see where they met the ground. What an interesting way to look at the sky and trees. I see some leaves fall from the trees and I know that I need to draw this. I don’t often draw landscapes but I want to draw my favorite place in the world.

I stand up and dust off my jeans and head back in the direction of the house. If I could complete this drawing then I wouldn’t have to go wander the woods to get that sense of peace. I would have a reminder of it every day. When I get in the house it is quiet so I go up to my room. I go to my easel and take down my horse picture and grab a new canvas. Then I set to work still thinking of the whispering winds.