Thank you.
# Thank you for owning this land.
It’s beautiful; I hope you know that, that you bought it because it was surrounded by trees, birds, light filtering through leaves, water flowing over the limbs of roots and rocks. I hope that whenever you come home to your land, you find yourself wrapped back into its arms, just like the first time you saw it.
# Thank you for owning this trail.
When you first saw this trail, did you think of the adventures you would have on it? The places you could walk to. The idea of leaving your front door and letting your legs keep on going where ever they pleased.
Did you think of long walks alone, clearing the mind of stray rubbish? The time spent following an eager four-pawed companion, watching them smell each trunk? The feeling of your partner’s hand walking side-by-side? The time spent chasing your children, and then their children through the woods down its path?
I hope that you dream on this trail, and that some of those dreams have become parts of your life.
# Thank you for letting me pass on your trail.
Your trail is magic to me.
It’s a prayer protecting me from cars, the violence of their sound and bodies hurtling down the unforgiving blacktop.
It’s a portal transporting me back to a country boy’s body, finding new paths and secret hollows.
It’s a salve over my heart, quieting my mind and directing the symphony of feelings within me.
# Thank you for letting us pass on your trail.
A shared smile. A quick conversation between old friends or a surprise greeting from a new one. From the youngest child carried on chest to the elders walking (and running, still running!) down the path, we thank you for the community you’ve hosted over all these years.
We’ve wanted to tell you this for so many years, but many of us haven’t met you, and some of us have forgotten the words. We live in a world that seems so complex and frightening, but here things are simple. On your trail we are all members of the same village, the same body flowing through the land.
So if we’ve ever treated you unfairly or neglected the thanks you so deeply deserve, let me apologize for us all and say the words we all want to say:
# Thank you trail owner.
May our paths cross many times. May we part always as friends.