I took Maya, my oldest sister's 70 pound and wired chocolate lab, to Falling Creek today. It wasn't the day-long or even really half-day excursion that we usually take together but it was still enjoyable. It was my first hike since I got back home a few days ago and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for winter at 50 degrees.
Coming home is a different experience everytime. I am pretty sure I have slept in the guest bed more than "my own" bedroom the past couple of visits since the semester ended for the summer. Grandma has been staying with us from Florida and she has taken my bed because it is the shortest open bed in the house. I am not here most of the time and it is only sensible that she get to have a room of her own. Over Thanksgiving I slept on the couch when all the beds were taken up by visiting family and my sister's boyfriend, Eric. Our family, which I have always taken as a small one, has become busier and is growing fast. It really is not a big deal to sleep elsewhere; I slept on the ground or in a hammock for about half of my summer and on a camp-style bunk bed with a 1-inch mattress the other half. Sleeping on the couch feels similar to being upgraded to sleeping in a castle where there is a room that is just one giant mattress for me to sprawl out on with as many feathery pillows and soft blankets as I could want. I say it "feels similar to" but really I don't know what that is like at all. Anyway, I can't remember the last time I slept in the bed I have had for years in the room that I created as my "safeplace" and that is all I should have said instead of committing an entire paragraph to it. But I did and I refuse to delete it.
Moving on. Coming home.
In response to the continuous presence of people in the house getting away is all the more pleasant. It is not that it is bad being here, it's fun to see family because the dynamics between everyone has changed so drastically, especially since Enslee was born. She has just begun to smile and "coo" at people and the reaction to her doing this is as if she were awarded a Nobel for it...if they were to give those sorts of awards away. I am pretty sure that if I were to win a Nobel tomorrow Enslee would probably smile during my award acception and everyone would turn to take her picture and I would not have any photographic evidence of my honor ever. But it all is with plausible reason. She is the cutest month-and-a-half old baby girl I have ever seen, and I do find my heart melting in acknowledgment that she is smiling because I made her smile. Babies have secret powers and if someone were to acquire these powers the whole world would throw itself at their feet. Enslee is more of a source of pride than I ever would have imagined and I cannot wait to share hiking and nature with her.
When I do need to get out for a little bit it usually takes some form of hiking with Maya, bouldering at the Bald/climbing gym, or indulging in lots of sweet treats with some good friends. Today it was hiking with Maya at the camp I have worked at for the past three summers. It is great to get out there in the off season when there is about 400 less people. Maya and I made up the population in camp today, and she was a great companion to have with me. Walking around with her knowing that we were the only two brought back the same rush of camp in a completely different setting. It placed me in thought; the same thoughts I eased into while star gazing at the lower lake dock or writing underneath the dining hall porch as people played music above me. The trees are bare now but it opens up the forests and revealed bits of camp that I had never noticed before. The lakes were almost entirely frozen but it didn't stop Maya from wading in them. Camp had a completely new and more placid pace that I love as much as the race to formulate last minute nature lesson plans that never proceeded as planned.
John Muir is infamous for attesting the healing powers of nature for the soul, mind and physical body. There is every bit of truth in his words. It is a place of solitude and tranquility. It is calm but busy with the activities of birds to bugs. Nature is forever creating, destroying, and restoring. That is what these woods have explained to me. And this is why I love coming home. I love coming back to the place where I learned to respect nature and to enjoy living out a simple series of moments. I can make each experience what I choose to; quiet, adventurous, crazy, challenging, relaxed. Each one is always fun and from each one I always take something away from it (experience-wise though, not physically. I wouldn't be a good witness for Leave No Trace if I took sticks and rocks with me everytime!)
Hmm, I didn't really write much about the holidays. I will save that for when Christmas and New Year's are more in sight. We will actually be in Hendersonville this year so I am sure I will have lots to say...
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