Regaining Contact



Nature at the tennis courts



Wednesday evening I played a game of tennis with my brother at a local park.  He's good, I'm decent but that is beside the point.  Playing tennis together was something we started this past summer; we usually do not hang out much with our 5 year age difference so it was a good way to do some sibling bonding.  Being outside in the slowly fading light with the fall breeze blowing cooled down my heated body felt well.  I was with my brother, having fun and I was outside.  The park has trees surrounding it on all sides.  There were leaves in the four corners of the fenced in courts.  Nature was a part of this man made area.  I breathed deeply and I immediately felt calm even though I was sweating like crazy.  I just felt good.

Thursday for me was chaotic and I hardly noticed what was around me and the calmness I had felt the night before was non-existent.  Today that changed.  I am in an Environmental Field class so every Friday we go to a different preserve or park.  Today was West Lake Nature Preserve and Bishop’s Bog.  They are in Portage, where I live and I have been to them multiple times before.  They are places with good memories.  Eight years ago my family went there on mother’s day and I remember it being a good time.  I drove over with my professor and we all sat on the ground waiting for a few more students.  I listened to the conversation but mostly I looked around me.  It had been some time since I had been there.  The last few years of my life were busy with school and my family went out less and less together to places like this.  The trees were beautiful golden and red.  Fall is my favorite season for this reason.  I find the leaves changing color more pretty then flowers in the spring.  I love the smell that is in the air and how the days get slowly cooler.  I wanted to stare at them for hours.  I felt as good as I did at the Nature Center.  We walked through the park’s paths.  The preserve was a marsh but because of the season it was mostly dry.  I learned about picture plants and what thrives in the marsh.  However I gazed at the sky and surrounding trees more than I did listening.  We went on to Bishop’s Bog, which was very similar except that it was wetter then the preserve.   At one point walking along the super decks/floating decks water squirted up from the holes and splashed on my legs.  In the springtime the decks would be flooded.  It was a one way path and as we walked down we stopped periodically to listen to our professor.   When we got to the marshy stream we paused.  A snake came out of the grass and surprised us all.  He posed for pictures as a few of us whipped out our cameras.  He slowly slithered up to a guys shoes and he stayed still as the snake stared about.  We named him Lyle and he went away.  As we walked back I kept up a brisk pace but looked all around me taking in what I might have missed on the walk out there.  On the drive back to campus my professor mentioned that Portage does a really good job at having and maintaining nature parks.  I completely agree with him.  I grew up in Portage and for a suburban town it is full of the natural world.  When I drove home from campus I paid attention to the trees along the road at Oakland I witnessed gorgeous trees changing color.  Our backyard nature is not as romanticized as a national forest or a cities nature preserve but it is just as beautiful, you just have to take the time to look.  It is right there in front of you and can get forgotten about in our busy lives.  If happened to me multiple times this week.  But in the end just looking and letting myself calm down I can become one with nature.