"Anyone can get lost in there. It’s a big forest."

May 15, 2019 8:41 AM

In Lithuania, to get lost while picking mushrooms is a common enough occurrence to have its own word: nugrybauti. [...] You achieve a state of nugrybauti when the thrill of having spotted choice edibles slides into uneasiness, brought on by the feeling that the forest has changed around you. Your sense of direction scampers off, and you trudge around aimlessly over moss, under branches, and around the skirts of spruces, lost—until, much later, you are back on a familiar path, though not where you thought you’d be.

Joel Mowdy writes (humorously) about nugrybauti (getting lost on a tangent), "Do-or-Die" Dan, and his father's PTSD.

posted by ragtag (3 comments total)

I have no idea why this affected me the way it did, but I'm really touched -- thanks for this. Carefully edging away from examining my response for the rest of the morning.
posted by DoubtingThomas at 8:50 AM on May 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Lovely evocative story. The kind of story that turns out to be about a whole series of things as you go through the rest of your life. I am trying to memorize the author's name, because no way in hell I will remember the title.

Mowdy paid a lot for that story, but at least he got it written down.
posted by ckridge at 9:51 AM on May 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nugrybauti nugrybauti nugrybauti, I was around here somewhere...Denver, I was eating some mushrooms in Denver...

Interesting life, in the abandoned forest in Lithuania then teaching in Asia. What a commute!
posted by Oyéah at 8:07 PM on May 15, 2019