Growing and Going Green
The tree branches outside the window are covered with green leaves. In just one week, the gaunt and bony tree line has filled in with soft, green growth. When the wind blows, the trees wave their new leaves like flags in a parade. At Ox Bow Park, the undergrowth takes over and I can no longer see through the forest to the other side. The path seems more closed in and poison ivy lines the edge as if nature has drawn a line where I can and cannot go.
Recently, a friend shared photos of places where human life has disappeared and nature has taken over. I looked through them with awe. As soon as we take our last steps through the landscape, nature is following at our heels, reaching out roots, blowing in dirt, dropping tree limbs, sending in insects. Whether we know it or not, things are constantly and quietly happening above our heads and below our feet. Nature is at work, plotting its own survival, despite our attempts at ignoring it.
As I start each day, I try to consciously think about nature. I always like to keep track of the weather. It helps me plan when I will take my walk, what I will wear, what I can expect. In the mornings and evenings, as I walk the dog, I hear the birdsong, I watch the squirrels and rabbits playing, I look up in the sky and feel the air. Each day is another day to soak in what nature lays before me. Against a steel gray sky, the color of the now blossoming trees pops out like crazy. Lavender, white, pink and deep rose stand out against that dramatic backdrop. And how many shades of green can I count? Enough that some have yet to be named.
As humans use nature and abuse it, it stays under the radar, alert, ready to fight for its life. It has been here through many versions of human life and knows how to adapt to our ever changing whims. And it doesn’t give up. My plan is to show it respect, give it love, and come to terms with its global dominance. I learn what I can from it and do my best to allow it to do its work.
I want to join with it instead of ignore it. And, hopefully, the tiny steps I take every day will help nature continue to survive.
Mostly, though, I try to be aware of the constant beauty nature throws out at me: the colors and path of a bird in flight, the characteristic buds of a hickory tree in the spring, the smell of lilacs by Jessie’s yard, the sound of water trickling below my feet on the boardwalk at Ox Bow...So much beauty surrounds me. I will do what I can to respect it. Won’t you join me?
