Nature

I love nature and I feel like because of our fast-paced lives it is not appreciated enough. I love that we were assigned this project therefore. When I was a kid, I lived in North Carolina. This was when school didn’t matter and you could just play all day. Well in my neighborhood we all went into our backyards and it was a whole new enchanted world outside of our own. I absolutely loved it. We could catch little crabs in the creek and we made a tree house. Nature is mystical and beautiful and that is what I remember my backyard as, nothing but that. I was like a little boy, who cared about barbies when you could go play with the real stuff! What man had not manufactured but instead what God had.

When I moved to Scripps Ranch, San Diego, it was a huge turnaround. Everything was man-made and it was harder to find a place to go play. Friends were important to me so I settled with playing with dolls with neighbors. I struggled to find a place to just be. As I grew older I would take walks with my dog. I found this one path down to the bottom of the hill of my neighborhood. I take a path off the road to this one spot with an overlook of the whole city. It holds a bench and on the ground are broken beer bottles and cigarette butts. So I sit there with my yellow Labrador retriever, Chelsea. This is where I come to think, naturally this is the one and only place I could think of writing about for this nature blog. The view consists of the Edwards Mira Mesa Movie theatres, the I-15, and an endless amount of city that stretches all the way to downtown and out to Mexico. It may not be entirely “nature” because it’s man-made but it is quiet, and the hills that roll down to the freeway are entirely natural. Along with this, the hills in the way background are not man-made either. It is a bitter-sweet moment. The multi-color lights at night and the fireworks on Fourth of July are beautiful and great but they hardly compare to the mystical backyard of my childhood.

What I do love about my spot, is the feeling of being at peace with myself. Not only does walking and being among nature relax me, but having my dog sitting next to me feeling the same, just takes my breath away. Having a connection between an animal and you is so magical in itself it automatically makes one smile. A dog is a man’s best friend. This is totally accurate, they are always there for you; loyal no matter what; unlike human beings. Obviously humans have a much higher connection than dogs but the fact that a dog and human can have a strong relationship without the use of communication is stunning. I also have a horse, a bird, two cats, and some fish. The connection is definitely not there like it is between my dog and I. This is why I do my heavy thinking with my dog at my special spot.

Nature is a strong uplifting connection. Whenever there is a need to think, just take a walk into complete isolation down to a river, a beach, a forest, a park maybe (but it’s kinda pushing it). You usually do thinking in isolation but I do it with my dog. I think that is totally fine because she does not distract with talking and is just company sitting beside me. Nature is a guiding force, it helps you because without any other influences of peer pressure, your parents, etc., you can make your own decision best for yourself and not for anyone else.