Okay, I’m a big proponent for getting kids outside. I don’t have children but I’ve worked in environmental education for 14 years. This summer has been about my father being diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies, dealing with hospital – nursing home – assisted living, cleaning out his house, testing/pre op/surgery/post op for his cataract surgery, and more paperwork than I could ever imagine. Every phone call that should complete a task only adds another task (or two or three).
The summer months I longed to arrive for early morning or early evening walks have fallen to the wayside in ‘favor’ of doctors’ appointments and picking through the remnants of my parents’, two hoarders, lives. My meager teaching schedule has involved indoor presentations to toddlers and preschoolers in day care centers. And, although I say that parents should make time for their kids to spend at least 10-15 minutes outdoors, no matter how busy the schedule, I am sad to say that I couldn’t take that advice for myself.
Two days this week I’ve tried to get myself back into the habit of walking at the cemetery, ‘memorial park’ that I favor. I check out the trees and branches downed by Hurricane Irene while my mind runs through to do lists and ‘I don’t wanna’ lists. I smell the fresh cut red oak and listen to the crows complain about my presence as they fly from tree-to-tree following me.
Nature reminds me that everything changes – sometimes in small steps, as with daily adjustments from one season to the next; and other times in great leaps, as with the hurricane. Everything transforms. My father is not the same person he was at the start of the summer and neither am I. My walks in nature have reminded me of this.
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