Nature Mail
Reflecting on what I’ve learned in the first MAEEC residency, I feel like I owe nature another thank you. This time, for something I only just discovered: nature was my best friend growing up.
The past few weeks have uncovered childhood memories that I completely forgot about. Our time outside with Enid Elliot learning about outdoor kindergarten and our silent walk learning about interspecies communication especially helped me realize that, even though I spent a lot of time wandering by myself as a child, I was never alone.
I spent a lot of time hanging out with trees. During one particular summer, I’d walk to the same willow tree almost daily with my pencil and journal. I have no memory of what it was I actually wrote inside the journal, but if I could guess, it was probably full of questions. I loved sitting under that willow tree, and I’d give anything to read that journal.
Another great memory that arose during this time of reflection, is catching flying maple seeds as they helicoptered down from the sky. I used to call them “nature mail” and I truly believed that each one I caught was deliberately sent for me. Even though the pods were always filled with seeds, I’d come up with some new imaginative idea of what was inside each one, where it came from and who it was from. While writing this blog, I discovered an interesting fact about maple seeds from a 2009 Live Science article:
“A swirling maple seed generates a tornado-like vortex that sits atop the front leading edge as the ‘helicopter' spins slowly to the ground. This leading edge vortex lowers the air pressure over the upper surface of the maple seed, effectively sucking the wing upward to oppose gravity. The mechanism is remarkably similar to the trick employed by insects, bats, and hummingbirds when they swing their wings back and forth to hover.”
I’ve always had an inquisitive mind. In a recent conversation, I mentioned that my idea of heaven is getting answers to the endless amount of questions I have. One of the first questions I asked myself when recently introduced to sense of place is “does sense of place mean feeling like a kid again?” Upon spending a few weeks immersed in nature unleashing my creativity and imagination, I certainly did start to feel like a kid again. I spent time collecting rocks and seashells at Botanical Beach, looking for shapes and patterns in cloud formations, and observing various insects and other species as they go about their day.
During the residency, a classmate asked “how do you equate happiness and how do you get back to the simple way of life?” I think the answers lie within taking the time to slow down, explore the outdoors and observe. It has been a long time since I felt as content and relaxed as I did while immersed in nature the last few weeks and I have never felt more creative in my life. Our time with Enid was wonderful. Something she mentioned that still resonates with me is that “society creates our own prisons” and I now know that nature is the way out. I can’t wait to go catch more nature mail and see what’s inside.