Nature has always been a very important part of my life thanks, in part, to the influence of my own mother. My mother was an artist at heart. She loved to garden, paint and dabble in various forms of arts and crafts.
When we were kids, she would take us to a beautiful little patch of woods (The Mount) where we could walk on shady, leaf covered paths and learn about all of the wonders of nature. Sometimes, she would collect leaves or sticks or shells or other artifacts of nature and display them in her home like beautiful works of art. And she always took the time to marvel at the clouds or a beautiful full moon. Thankfully, thankfully I inherited those qualities from her.
Below is a note from a birthday card that my mother gave me years ago. She sums things up far better than I can. I have also included a poem that she mentioned in the note.*
The front of the card shows a small girl standing in a field, with her arms outstretched to the sky. A flock of geese is flying overhead. The printed message on the card says: “We don’t wait till all our years are spent to experience heaven. In sunlight and the breath of wind, in the smile of a baby, in the song of a child, heaven reveals itself to us every day.”
Mom wrote: “Enclosing copy of poem I copied in my little spiral notebook ~ probably in 1940 ~ I’m sure I memorized it at the time and I never forgot it – which is why I always knew it was better to let the “work” wait and enjoy the walking through the fall foliage ankle deep on the sidewalk and climbing up The Mount to dawdle in the October sun and I treasure every moment I ever “wasted” that way with you. Love, Mom
Here’s the poem she included:
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Last October
By Elaine V. Emans
There never comes a day like this, all gold
And shining like a bubble in the sun,
But I recall the afternoon I told
You I’d no time for play: work must be done!
Work must be done, and there the gold day wasted.
And there the mellowness of earth and sky
And leaf and air went hour by hour untasted
For scruples sown too well in such as I!
And there October’s brightness faded, turning
Her dear enchantment into dull November,
And setting in my brain one question burning
Now what can I, now what can I remember
Of work I bent above that day until
It was too late to climb the golden hill!
*Poem was copied from hand-written note. I apologize for any mis-copied words.
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My mother instilled a love of nature in me that has helped to create who I am. The love is so strong, that I don’t just spend every free moment I can enjoying nature, but I try to do everything I can to get other people to see it the same way so that they will love and protect it, too.
The beauty of life is in the details. My mother taught me that. I hope that my writing can help encourage others to appreciate the details, too.
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