We Live Here, Too #7

Natty on the Deschutes

This weekend I was out at Caldera for a retreat for our high school students. It was so great to be there. The butterflies are popping out and the kids were smiling and the air was gentle. There was a moment this weekend, when I was walking from one of the studios to the Hearth, where I realized how easy I feel when I walk around out there. And when I say easy, I mean that I know that land and I have paths I like to walk because I know them so well. In the past few years, I have been working on perfecting the practice of being able to walk around camp at night without a lantern. I can safely do about 3/4 of it in various sections. I find it easier to feel part of the world that way, by touch sometimes, rather than sight. And you can also see the stars better.

Last Thursday while walking along the Deschutes with Natty, I enjoyed seeing how she was like that with the river. Easy. She knows that river and is close with it. I could see it in the ease in which she walked along rocks in the water and over higher ones above. With confidence and grace and comfort and respect and love.

It feels nice to feel connected like that to the Earth. Like you are simply a tree with your roots entwined with the soil-- connected. Yet we are more like lucky trees, because our roots live in our hearts and allow us to wander and explore and be awed.