Mother Nature is perfect in every way. She is the epitome of
extremes. Her grand design allows her to be peaceful and serene, lying
disguised as a motionless pond awaiting the first ripple of life as a new day
dawns. Yet in a blink, she can also be violent and eruptive, uprooting a
majestic oak from its staunch and steadfast earthen hold. She can be
compassionately harsh, beautifully grotesque, piercingly quiet, and
inconsequentially grand. She sometimes offers everything but reveals nothing.
She is a canvas awaiting paint, allowing each and every person to make whatever
masterpiece their imaginations and dreams desire.
Is it any wonder why she calls out to so many?
I am drawn to her.
I listen to her invitations.
She calls to me daily but like her gamut of extremes, her
solicitations appeal to me in various ways.
Sometimes she invites just me and me alone, yet sometimes I
can’t help but show her off to the masses.
Don’t get me wrong, Mother Nature has bestowed upon me many
wonderfully lonesome memories that I alone will cherish. As a young boy, no one
else can even begin to understand the significance of seeing that snowy owl
perched on a snag in the midst of a desolate swamp and watching in wonderment
as she flew off in graceful yet stunning silence. And yes, that single
experience helped shape who I am today. I wanted… no… I needed to learn more
about this “nature”.
As rewarding as those solitary moments are, when it comes to
Mother Nature, more often than not, I want to share her. There are not enough
fingers and toes of my closest kin to count how many times I have seen or
experienced something wonderful from her and thought to myself, “If only
_________ could see this now.”
To me, it seems as if my humble soul is not worthy enough to
be the sole benefactor of Nature’s beauty. Why is it that I should be the only
one blessed by her glory? This is why, if I have the option to share her gifts,
I plan on taking those closest to me so I can bestow upon them those same
favors.
Such was the case a few years ago.
Though my outdoor exploits predominantly don’t involve the
report of a gun to conclude my experience, I had the opportunity to introduce
the agency’s newest employee to his first ever Tennessee-style turkey hunt. Did
I have a good farm where I knew there were birds. Yep. Could I have gone there
alone to improve my odds of coaxing in the potentially call-wary gobblers?
Probably. Did I make the right choice by bringing “Joe” along to feel the
hallowed reverberations as the two long-beards strutted and announced their dominance
to my decoys? Absolutely.
To say I enjoy experiencing Mother Nature with someone else
is an understatement. There is something magical about sharing her splendor
with another soul. It’s akin to writing a book where the reader can not only
empathize with the words, but they can be washed away in that experience with
the simple closing of their eyes.
I hope to continue to share those experiences, whether or
not it’s on a hunt or after summiting a tall lonely mountain that’s been on my
“to do” list. Oh well, after a long day on the trail in the heat and sweat, I
often times find myself aromatically putrid. Hey, you know what? ….I guess I
sometimes have a lot in common with that "nature" girl I love.
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