nature saturation

My son was quite delighted to find ladybugs lounging in our yard this weekend. Me too - not only are they rather cute, they're also useful to the yard, and they're a symbol for positive luck, protection, and wishes coming to realization.

I'm currently reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. I find the topic very fascinating, though also acknowledge that the need for its publication rather absurd and startling.

My childhood was certainly filled with running after lightening bugs at twilight, tunneling through tall grasses surrounding a neighborhood creek, hanging out on my branch in the front yard tree, creating imaginary worlds in the backyard for hours with friends, lemon-aid stands on warm summer mornings. (And, I wasn't even what people would call a tomboy, though I did rip my favorite dress climbing a fence! :o)

My own children have a natural connection and reverence for nature. Surely all kids are born with it, and it only needs some basic nurturing? We started journeying out into the sunlight and breeze at young ages, letting them feel the textures of the world, taste the air, explore. Now, my son (age 5) would never in a million years want to stay inside (for tv or anything else) over the opportunity to go outside - run, collect pieces of nature, pretend walnut shells are frogs or freshly hatched chicks, make a bowl of potatoes out of rain water, dirt, and leafs, discover a patch of snails, blow dandelions, plant seeds, zoom on his bike while sunlight collects in his hair, walk through gardens or the nature center, pretend the arches of junipers are homes, feel worms and protect them from the too much light, make buildings from sticks. My daughter (nearly 2) is developing the same delight for the simplicity and joy that come from that state of being, the suspension of everything else, expansion of self, connection to the whole wide world. It's solace, but it is also incredible joy and delight.

And
For no reason
I start skipping like a child

And
for no reason
I turn into a leaf
That is carried so high
I kiss the Sun's mouth
And dissolve
...
- Hafiz