Being Where You Are

I just read the next chapter title in Richard Louv's Book. It is called "The Incredible Experience of Being Where You Are." I like this title and as I have tried to live by it....and found that you do not get bored if you explore your own place meaningfully and deeply. When I moved to Seattle in 1994 I thought that it would be for only a few months. I thought I would be able to experience Washington and be done with it.

It has been almost 20 years and I am still finding things to explore. In fact, I used to explore the whole state and would travel places almost every weekend. Then I started to do more localized exploration, mostly by bike, in just Seattle proper. Now with two year old boys we explore areas within a few mile radius and I find there is still so much to explore.

For my boys there is a patch of sidewalk, bumpy from roots and years of weathering and erosion, that they love to run back and forth across. There are trees that we visit every time we walk to get groceries. We run our fingers over the leaves, rest our eyes on the greenery or touch the white bark. Some days even our backyard has enough to stimulate us for hours and hours. It is me, mom, that needs to a bit more zen to not even leave our yard. I need to let go of the need to go someplace and instead to cherish the disturbed, but in the process of being replanted yard. In the past years, I have slowly been adding in native plants and trees. We are building garden boxes, cultivating perennials. It is not that big of a yard. But, the other night at the table we went over the trees in our yard and at last count we have over 23 trees. No wonder their can be so much exploration.