...trees.

I grew up in the high mountains of Colorado.  From the time I was about 10, after my dad remarried, we lived on about an acre of land which was mostly pine and fir trees.  Enough so that every Christmas we went into our own backyard to get our Christmas tree.  None of this "go buy one off a lot" nonsense.  My grandparent's homes were both on property with a lot of trees as well even though they were in the city limits.  Both had yards full of beautiful gardens and grass.  As far back as I remember I loved to play outside more than anything.  I'm very much a child of nature.  I always have been and always will be.  It really is where I feel most at home.  

As an only child, I had myself, my dogs and the trees and wildlife to play with most of the time.  I would spend hours outside playing in the dirt, sitting under trees reading, building little makeshift tree houses with branches, talking to my imaginary friends, and laying under the trees just 'being'.  I'd eat too many of my grandmother's raspberries and strawberries and end up with stomach aches.  And dirt pies were a frequent creation.  :)  I knew all the wild mushroom varieties and berries and could tell you which were "yum yum" and which were "yuck yuck" from a very young age thanks to my dad and mom.  I knew most of the wildflowers that grew around us and even though every year allergies would make me a puffy snot factory, I still preferred to be outside.  To this day, my dream house is a tree house not unlike those of the Elves in Lord of the Rings.

Looking back I think the best friends I ever had were the faeries of the woods.  I knew all the different butterflies, the different beetles, worms and insects.  I knew the different wildflowers, trees and bushes of the Colorado wilderness.  I'd watch caterpillars as they ate whole leaves and marvel when an inchworm found its way onto my skin.  Many a summer did I catch caterpillars, watch them cocoon in a jar and then release them when their chrysalis' opened revealing their new forms.  Having deer eat apples out of my hand was commonplace and seeing mountain sheep up on the cliff faces was normal.  When we went jeeping I'd talk to the whistle pigs and picas when they'd chatter at us.  There was many a time when I would literally watch stuff grow.

As I got older, moved to the city and got bogged down with the chaos of being an adult, I started to lose some of that wonder and blissfulness of being with the earth.  I live in a very busy city being in the Bay Area but we are so close to the redwoods and the ocean.  We have beautiful lakes within a few minutes of us and until recently I haven't taken much time to explore.  And I miss it.  SO much.  I didn't realize how much until I started going to a women's retreat up in the Santa Cruz Hills deep in a redwood forest.  I immediately feel so much better when I'm up there.  I feel...at home.  When I spend time with the trees I feel more like myself than pretty much anywhere.  Especially when I sing with them :D

I've started to make more time to be outside and with the trees again.  I'm going to find a book of local native plant and wildlife and learn everything I can of where I now call home.  I'm going to go explore more.  Spend time with the earth and reconnect with her.  Even if my back is being dumb and I don't feel like going for a full walk, I'm still going to just go and sit.  I long to play in the dirt and be in the comforting arms of the trees and feel the wonderment I did when I was younger.

I once saw a bumper sticker that said "Tree Hugging Dirt Worshiper."  Yup...that's me! :D