When I was a young child, my mother was always working to support the family after my father had abandoned us. I was five years old. I grew up not seeing much of my mother and not having a father around. I was a latch-key kid,( as were my older sister and brother), before the term became popular. I lived on the outskirts of town on a dirt road in a very rural area. Being in nature was natural to me. I remember waking up in the morning and being so excited to rush outside and be with the land, the trees, the forest, the hills, the meadows,the brook, the birds and the wildlife. I grew up feeling that mother nature/mother earth was my comforter, my teacher, my pleasure and yes, my mother. She even fed me with food from the neighbors gardens and wild berries. I remember picking clover buds and pulling them apart and sucking the sweet honey from them. I remember how the clover fields made a cushiony bed to lie in and dream, as I looked up at the clouds and entertained myself by discovering various shapes of delightful characters. I remember how the wind would kiss me and play with my long blonde hair. I felt so good being out with mother nature and walking on the earth. I loved how the earth threw up rocks for me to discover, sticks that had fallen from trees that were unusal, leaves and flowers that were bright and delighted my senses. I especially loved going to the brook and hearing it speak with the rush or trickle of water, depending on the season. I loved to wade in it, although I was told not to go near it. When I felt it's strong current and it's depth, I understood why my mother was concerned about it. I loved playing with the brook and jumping across stones or swamp grass to cross her. More than anything I loved the trees that sheltered me from the sun and gave me a nice place to sit and look at all the treasures I had collected while out and about; a birds feather, an unusual rock, a variety of sticks and maybe some shiny object I had found along the way. Everyday I explored. That was my life. I especially enjoyed the sky and watched for what it would tell me regarding the weather, as did the leaves on the trees and the winds. The birds sang to me and bunnies hopped by me. I even had "homes" in large bushes where the animals had made paths into them. I walked the hills and the valleys, picked wild apples growing in the pasture lands. My companion was my English Setter named Sally. She went everywhere with me and watched over me. She knew all my dreams and secrets. My world was always a wonder and when I saw my mother I would ask her questions about life, about the stars, the sky, the planet. I loved looking at the stars at night and trying to find the constellations. I frustrated my mother and she called me "The Dreamer". I remember the day I had an "ah-ha moment" when I discovered that people from all over the world were sitting under the same moon! Mother said "you think too much". She didn't understand the wonder and awe inspiring world I was living in.
My childhood was wonderful in the sense of my experience with nature and the earth. I listened for cars to come down our road and could hear them long before seeing them. I put my head and hands to the ground to feel the vibrations. I had a connection to all that was around me and took delight in my beautiful world. I hated to come inside. I always stopped to notice a flower, an insect, a bee or whatever was crosssing my path. I thought every kid grew up this way until I grew older and was exposed to the world of buildings and cities and noise, asphalt roads and exhaust fumed air. When I married I moved to the city where the world looks into buildings instead of out them, for there was no beautiful nature to see. I realized that for my own existence, I had to be back with nature. We eventually moved into an old farmhouse in a quaint village town in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. I had what I needed and reconnected with the land, knowing the woods around me like the back of my hand. I was out there as much as I could be, whether it was walking, biking or riding my horses.
Today, I still live with the land. I still notice the flowers, the birds, the insects, the calls of nature. If I am in a parking lot and a bird calls out to me, I listen! I stop and pause when I am flooded with the scents of the plum trees several homes away. I can still hear the whispering sounds of nature and will follow them to explore. I love it all and how it pleasures me, plays with me and nurtures me. Yes, I am "home" with my mother earth. Please take care of her, she is full of so much stress and pressure. The world at large has not treated her well. She is what gives us life, air to breathe, nature to please our senses and our souls, she gives us food, water and shelter, a way to move and walk upon her. She opens her arms in the skies in a vast kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, stars, rainbows and planets to view. Most of all, we can not live without her. We are ONE with the earth, the sky, the wind, the air. To hurt mother earth is to hurt yourself. Take care to protect that which sustains our existence. We can not live without her.
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