The Comfort of Nature

Today we took a day trip to see my Mom and Dad in the country. My brothers came, too. My daughter took several pictures of the hummingbirds that swarm their porch to get the sugar from the feeder. I think they are addicts, but that is subject matter for another post. My parents live on a big tract of undeveloped land. I love sitting out on the porch and just soaking it all up, the woods that surround the house, the sounds of the birds and the breeze that seems to be continuous there. The sky is bluer, and at night the stars jump out at you. I could sit there and do absolutely nothing for hours. Any time of day, but especially early morning and late evening. I like to put my feet up on the porch rail or the table, and just lean back and breath it all in. I feel so at home.

I always find comfort in nature. Even if all I have is a moment or two. I feel so at home. Maybe it is because I grew up out in the country and have fond memories of exploring the land around us with my brothers and sister as a child. We could spend the entire day outside, following the creek, or finding arrowheads in a freshly plowed field, or maybe playing hide and seek in a cornfield. We lived on a hill, too,back then, with a nice view. I liked to sit at the edge of the yard in the midst of some huge spruce trees and listen to the whispering of the branches. Or take a blanket out and spread it out with a pile of books, spending an entire afternoon reading lazily under a tree, shaded, in the heat of the summer. As I grew older I would take walks alone far into the seclusion of nearby fields, woods, and explore. Then I would just find a spot and sit. I have always felt the presence of God in nature. As an adult, far from my childhood home I always sought out hiking trails and places where I could be alone with nature.

It was good to see my family today. My daughter and I snuck my Mom away after we had gone and picked up pizza for the guys. We went out and had salads (daughter had fries and a shake) and talked. Mom rarely has a break from my Dad now that he has Alzheimer's, and since my brothers were with him, she could relax a little more.
I wish it could have been a longer visit but I am very happy we made the trip. The drive is a little over two hours to get there but I enjoyed all the green rolling hills and blue sky along the way. Even though I have made that trip many times in the past 21 years, I always see things I never noticed before. And it never fails to calm me or slow me down a little. Just being out where the land spreads out and the traffic thins on the ribbon of road as it winds on, I get sleepy just thinking about it.

I really went to the depths of despair Friday night in my thinking. It was a scary low and I attribute a some of the magnitude of it to my reaction to some allergy medicine I took. I was already having a rough time, but there are certain types of over the counter cold medicines that I cannot handle. . So that, and my time of the month and a few other things combined set me up for a hideous run in with the dark side. But I knew it would pass, and I ended up going to bed and sleeping it off. I still feel touched by it though, recovering from it still.