A Day at the Nature Center

So many things to comment on…

The Transformation:
As the days go by, our little group grows closer and closer together. Each time we share our stories, our responses, and our ideas, so grows our closeness. Today, we brought it up a notch. We went on a nature hike together. Here, amid the flora and fauna, a bevy of professional ladies let their hair down. We arrived at the nature center as grown up, maintaining our mature demeanors. Once on the trail, we transformed. Awestruck, we began to peel away layer after layer of our defenses. There was Sugey, the normally deliberate and shy classmate, bouncing around from the front of the line to the back, leaning over a flower to get a picture of the insect perched inside it. There was Lourdes, in her baseball cap and ponytail, arms outstretched and cheeks flushed as she considered the creekbed. But, best of all, was Redieshia… so scared of snakes that she almost bowed out of the nature center visit altogether. Instead, she doubled up on her morning prayer and marched bravely out into the wilderness with her cohorts. Exclamations of “Help me, Jesus!” became “How great Thou art!” She saw God in the trees, the flowers, the insects… and she turned a scary prospect into an opportunity to grow in her faith… We all became child-like in our fascination with the natural order. It was an experience that I relish as it brought me closer to these fantastic women… My Bluebonnet sisters…

Connections:
This exercise made me remember my days growing up in Connecticut. Permit me to attempt to share some images. The personal connections that I made to the nature center were as follows:

• The hill in our backyard that was just as good for sledding as it was for rolling…
• The cliff in front of our house that, though it was forbidden, my sister and I climbed countless times…
• My thinking rock… covered with amber-colored mica that I chipped away at as I pondered such deep topics as the Holy Mysteries…
• The big oak tree that shaded our swing set…
• The clearings in the woods that became our “homes”
• The witches’ tree in the backyard that scared my sister and tempted me…
• The blackberry bushes in our backyard from which we would pluck succulent berries and deliver to our mother who made little confectionary tartlets for her two little tartlettes at home…
• The crabapple tree whose truck had hollowed out just enough that a little girl could fit inside…

Applications:
I definitely think that I will incorporate some nature exposure when I teach students the vocabulary for the environment.