39 I checked out at the store. I bought no candy today; I bought a spinner to trout fish with in spring. It was getting dark so I decided to go home for supper. The house was full with activity and the table was already set. My sisters were helping my mom with supper and I was really dirty from all the ditch diving. My mom sent me to the bathroom to shower and put clean clothing on. I protested, but I always listened to my mom. The rest of the family was already seated when I returned. I sat down and ate supper. The topic of the play at the high school came up and my mother gave me a few more details about the play. It sounded really interesting and I thought " what the heck." My mom made me take a shower and put on clean clothes. " Why waste it?" I thought. I had a quarter left from ditch diving and that is what it would cost to get in the play. Off I went to the play. The opening of the play had a couple hunters wandering in the mist and they seemed quite lost. The special effects in 1968 were amaz­ing. They must have used some dry ice or something simi­lar. The stage was engulfed in mist. At 11 years old I internalized much of what I saw and heard. These hunters became people in my life. One of them was my Dad; he was lost and couldn't find his way home from hunting in northern Wisconsin. Though my Dad had died about a year ago while deer hunt­ing, I still had this weird fantasy that he didn't really die and that he would appear at home one day. I was swept away by the story of the play from the moment I saw the lost hunters. I

watched the play on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was glad that it was dark in the gym because I was fighting back tears quite often. I loved that play and it's my all time favorite. However, I didn't like the ending of the story, be­cause you would have to wait another 100 years for Brigadoon to reappear. The play touched me because it talked about simpler times and go­ing back into your past. I remember all of the things my Dad taught me about the out­doors. I had my own little Brigadoon every time I went to the trout stream. It was where my Dad seemed the hap­piest and I could imagine him being with me on every outing. He had identified every wildflower for me and had shown me the magic of the outdoors. All of the smells and sounds of the outdoors take me back. I can still see him smile when he showed me the Impatiens balsamina wildflower. My face must have showed astonishment and awe when he had me touch that orange, odd looking flower. I can remember him making sure that I was really close so I could see the flower, and the pod area exploded and shot seeds raining down on me. I can't go by a " touch- me- not" flower in the fall without getting close to it; I see my father's smile each time I touch those magi­cal flowers. Many children become bitter and lose their path when their father or mother dies when they are young. I chose to embrace and remember all of the won­ders of the outdoors and see my father in each outing, in the wildflowers, and every aspect of the outdoors in my own and very private Brigadoon. Click here to contact Len Harris