Yesterday my partner and I went for a walk in the neighborhood that I
grew up in. It's a bit nicer here than it is to walk around our
apartment on campus, because the scenery there is mostly parking
lots. It wasn't too cold, but it was windier than we had
realized. Neither of us brought heavy coats to my parents' house
because we thought we wouldn't need them.
We walked down the street, past the houses of a few of my childhood
friends. Lots of nice, cruncy leaves lined the sidewalk. We strolled
along the bike trail, reminiscing about the last time we took a walk
here. It was only April, but that almost feels like a lifetime
ago. Lots has changed since then.
It's certainly colder. We decided to turn around before we got too
far. The bike trail is a big, open path and the wind was a bit too
much for us without out big coats. We wandered through the
neighborhood, sheltering from the wind between the houses.
We passed an oak tree that had scattered its acorns all over the
corner of the street. My partner bent down to look at them. They
remarked at how large they were - these acorns were short and fat,
maybe a bit larger than my thumbnail. It was almost funny how
mesmerized they were. It was sweet. My partner is from a place that
doesn't have trees like this.
I smiled and led my partner down a block farther to a tree with even
larger acorns. When I was little, my friends and stopped by this tree
on the way home from school. In the fall, the ground is always
scattered with acorns that are just the right size to fit in my
palm. We used to take some home with us and draw faces on them. Of
course, my partner was even more fascinated by these. I took a few
pictures of the tree to try and identify it, but I couldn't get any
more specific than "oak". Maybe the wonderful people on the
iNaturalist app will be able to figure it out.
Before we walked back, I slipped an acorn into the pocket of my
cardigan. It felt nice to feel the weight there. It's a little gift
from nature, a reminder of home. I've been reading Braiding Sweetgrass
by Robin Wall Kimmerer this past week and I think it's one of my new
favorites. I'm not even halfway through yet, but it's already made an
impact on me. Looking at the world through the lens of gifts,
relationships, and responsibilities is a wonderful way of
living. I've gotten so used to thinking about humans as separate from
nature, as bad for the environment no matter what. This book is
reminding me that people are part of the ecosystem, just like
everything else. If we act responsibly, if we accept gifts and give
gifts in return, then maybe we can be a bit kinder to the planet.
