by Emily Schilling
Editor

Ever notice how fairy tale characters spend a lot of time in the woods? Well, for nearly three weeks last month, I was like them.

My Grimm tale began very early on March 1. The road I live off of collapsed. A downpour of rain and an undersized culvert were all it took for a 20-foot span of gravel road to “magically” disappear.

I discovered the newly developed cliffs when I left for work a few hours later. Luckily, this was before daylight-saving time morning darkness shrouded the “kingdom.” I would not have seen the sudden and drastic drop had it not been for sunlight.

We immediately began gathering phone numbers and quotes from contractors to repair the road and called the Indiana 811 to mark utility lines. And, since school and work still go on even though there’s a chasm in your road, we adjusted our lives. Every morning, my family traveled to the edge of the huge hole in my car. Then we trekked a quarter of a mile into the woods bordering the road to get to the other side. Parked there was my in-laws’ SUV which whisked us away from the land of deep holes and deep woods, and back again.

The first few days of forest walks were tolerable. But as time went on, and rains fell, I became, well, grim, about the daily prospect of walking across seedlings, brush, dried leaves and small streams; through broken wire fences; into squishy mud puddles; and up and down steep hills. How did Snow White do it — especially without rubber-soled boots? The hike was frightening when it was dark. A battery-operated lantern and small flashlight illuminated the way only nominally. In darkness, the tree seedlings, branches and puddles that obscured our path reminded me of scary trolls.

If only the seven dwarfs would arrive to build us a bridge! Well, our wish came true, sort of: our neighbor placed a ladder across a shallow stream on the other side of the hole, then put a narrow piece of wood on top. My daughter, a balance beam veteran, had no trouble walking on it. My husband carried several loads of groceries on it. But with my rep for uncoordination, I continued to walk on the wild side — even though by now my inner Grumpy was evident!

Just three days ago, the road was finally filled and fixed! We are able to travel easily — and, hopefully, happily ever after — over stable gravel roads. From now on, I will be grateful that when some fairy tales come true they don’t last forever!

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