When did it being? That I remember. It was high, high up in a mountain wilderness. I walked down a path, across a small pine grove. The trees stopped me. They spoke to me, wanted to know who I was.
Then there was an oak tree, a huge oak that grew in a park behind my house, a mother tree. Not as sharp, not as vigilant as the pine, but nourishing and comforting. It took care of me, it held me when the pain of my divorce threaten to overwhelm.
And there was a mountain, a mountain that was as present, as warm and comforting as a huge, purring cat. And as sharp. It showed me how to be alive as a human, it taught me presence. And then another mountain, in another place, that took me a step farther…
I do remember when it began. I do remember when nature begun to shift from a collection of objects, things that existed to create a pleasant setting for my life. I do remember the beginning, but when did I become its student, its partner, it’s ally … that I don’t remember exactly.
I do not quite remember the moment when nature and I became friends.
