Nature as Constant

Today I am grateful for bananas and clementines, the easy peelers in my fruit choices. I also appreciate the view I have right now from our dining room table, looking out into our comfortable home, sharing morning conversation with my husband Darcy.

Another view I always appreciate is the one I get whenever I step outside. It's never exactly the same from one time to the next, but Nature is a constant. It always provides fresh air and the day's weather. It always brings me a sense of humility, of my little part in this expansive universe. 

I love the changing seasons. I embrace the ugly weather days as much as I embrace the pleasant ones. They all bring me reminders of ongoing transformation, of riding our own storms out, of the profound and simple gratefulness of having mobility and working limbs so I can enjoy whatever Nature is dishing up. 

Nature has been a constant source of energy, peace, and hope across the decades of my life. From the days I took a morning run with a nasty hangover and worked out some of the alcoholic turmoil, to the days I pushed our young son Sam in a jog stroller. From the days I walked our new puppy Oliver as I recovered from cancer surgeries and chemo, to the more recent days when we both are slowing down in some ways. 

I bundled up in subzero wind chills yesterday to do some snowshoeing. Here is what Nature delivered:

Stunning. Rejuvenating. A dose of Vitamin D and Vitamin G. Nature as constant.