Re-Discovering Nature

       They say that April showers bring May flowers. But I wouldn't really know about that, since I don't pay much attention to things like flowers -- unless they're in a vase.

       I'm not exactly a nature lover. I like sitting outdoors, but preferably with a good book to distract me, or a nice bottle of wine and some great company. 

       I live in a state renowned for its natural beauty, and don't get me wrong -- I do appreciate it.  Hardly a day goes by that I don't look out my living room windows and think, "Wow, what a magnificent view." And I often notice the incredible rock formations and pretty wild flowers outside while driving in my car. I have even spotted an occasional coyote while walking Olympia in our otherwise urban neighborhood. 

       But I don't hike or ski or raft like so many others around here do.  I also don't cycle or jog or garden or fish or watch birds. And we do our camping at nice hotels rather than in sleeping bags with branches poking in our back.

       Some writers have talked about nature deficit disorder in children. They say that urban upbringing and parental fear of danger keeps many children indoors or in planned activities, rather than outside and exploring.  A friend raising her child in New York told me that she put her toddler down on some grass recently, and that he seemed delighted by the green stuff -- rolling around, tearing up bits and wiping it on his face, etc.  She realized he had never experienced a lawn before.  

       I certainly didn't suffer from that kind of nature deprivation myself. When I was growing up, I frequently played outside with my friends.  My family had a cottage at a beach for some time and I remember days building sand castles, picking berries and even floating dangerously far away on a raft one day. My family spent several summer vacations camping in tents and a trailer (certainly the reason that trailers now make me cringe). I have one particularly fond childhood memory of an afternoon spent tramping through a swamp with my parents, while I searched for a snake to bring home as a pet.

       But all that seems very long ago.

       So for this month, I am going to go out and try to re-discover nature  -- to see its beauty up close or be annoyed by its insects, to see its patterns and appreciate its unpredictability. 

       I don't know what will happen, but I can tell you already that I'm dreading it.