We leave to explore the shores of White Lake, and within just a few yards, we discover eggs hidden in the cypress trees, a baby turtle belly-flopping off the log, ducklings coming too close to my feet, dragonflies sunning on laundry lines, and minnows darting under piers. We visit with neighbors and meet a new dog.
I’ll forever love exploring nature especially. I think of Thoreau’s lines in Walden: “We need the tonic of wildness. . . We can never have enough of nature.” I think of Emerson: “In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.” And I think of the poet Wallace Stevens who wrote, “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”
I love walking in nature, and I return refreshed and full of wonder. I return more myself.