Silver light leaks through the trees, touching the ground with ghostly fingers. The world is blue and gray and so different from the sharp edges of my office that I almost feel like a stranger in it. I hesitate at the forest’s edge, waiting for the familiar press of ownership to settle over me. Waiting for the quickening in my blood to ignite. Then I step forward, each motion deliberate and practiced, and the anticipation is immediate, consuming. The chill air whispers against my skin, making it prickle with a heightened sense of what is to come. I drop the backpack against a tree and check my watch, the mundane gesture strangely jarring in this wild place. Each second brings me closer. I close my eyes, breathing deep, tasting the damp earth and green moss and faraway metal, my senses unra
