I learned to swim in a swimming pool but I did not feel I was swimming until I swam from a rock to a moored boat when I was 11 and felt I had not only achieved a marathon – the boat was a few yards away at most – but because I knew there was a lot of life swimming around in the same water I also felt strangely vulnerable.
I don’t like heights but I still climb trees and stand or sit gingerly as high as I can go wondering what I am doing there, looking at my dogs who are also wondering, riven in two between a certain degree of fear and a wonder that the tree exists and the view being beautiful. Living in the countryside I have been immensely spoiled for most of my life having gentlemen farmers who allow me to wander freely on their land. Thousands of acres of real estate have been my friend and comfort through the years of my mother’s illness.
The challenges of life can be immense but they can also be fundamental – to keep connected to those things you loved as a child. And when you have finally finished with toys, which doesn’t seem to be a human trait at all as we even use each other as throw-away playthings, to find what you love gives love back is a joy.
No Nature doesn’t love me in any traditional sense; but possesses me. Like any mother I understand her better with my adult mind and our conversations are endless, deep and productive.