Monday, May 24, 2010

Loving Nature

As I grow older, my love and respect for Nature intensifies.  I find that during this time of the year, in particular, it is vital for me to find time to sit alone or walk somewhere in the presence of trees, flowers, river and birds.  Whether I'm reading or just reflecting, the peace I feel when I'm one with Nature is beyond description.
 Whenever I think about when my love of Nature began, I think back to my gradual, progressive journey with it - my awareness of it.  That awareness began during my early childhood in a small southern town, where my family and I often went on excursions into the woods during the summer to pick blackberries, cherries and grapes.  I loved the freshness of the air, the colors of the many different plants and the many, many trees everywhere.  I remember being excited that no two trees were the same.  I was even excited that we had to be careful to avoid areas known to harbor dangerous snakes.  Somehow, knowing the snakes were there and knowing that I was protected by adults kept my adrenalin flowing.


Growing up on my grandfather's small farm was another reason that I viewed Nature as a friend, especially in summer and fall.  In the summer, there was a garden filled with corn, green beans, tomatoes, greens, watermelons, cucumbers and okra.  There was also a fig tree in our front yard, and a chicken coop in our back yard.  I loved that we grew most of what we ate, and it wasn't until we moved north that I discovered  not everybody made  their own buttermilk - or wrung a chicken's neck in the morning and ate it for supper that same day.


Everybody had not eaten a yellow-meat watermelon from Georgia, or witnessed newborn kittens in a bedroom dresser drawer. Nor had they learned to climb a tree, catch a trout or watch caught-tadpoles turn into frogs.  Everybody had not caught June bugs in the summer, tied a string to their legs and watched them "zing on a string," making a zinging noise.  Nor had they sat on the front porch at night in the summer, catching lightning bugs in a jar. 


Everybody had not known the thrill of watching their relatives shake a pecan tree in the fall, and fill a crocus sack with the wonderful bounty.  Yet, as a child, I thought everyone had experienced all these things.  Later on, and even now, I am amazed that there are still those who think it is unsophisticated to love nature so much.  I have learned that it is they who are showing their ignorance with these type of thinking.


When I am in the presence of nature, especially trees and water, I am acutely aware that there is something higher than myself - something wise and mysterious.  Something that has been here forever, and for that I am thankful.


When I die, I will go back to the earth because I came from the earth.  I am a part of the earth, a part of Nature, and perhaps that is why I love it so much.