Describe your favorite place in nature . . .

I thought about writing about the Adirondack State Park in upstate New York where I spent a semester twenty years ago living, camping, and hiking—in the winter. It’s a deeply special place for me; I love it—and miss it—dearly. Or I might have written about the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where I grew up; they are part of my heart roots. I also thought about the lake in Minnesota where I spent every summer of my adolescence; it was my safe place—and my Minnesota family was my safe haven—during a season of life marked by unremitting trauma. Or Prince Edward Island, where I long every day to live. But I think my most favorite place in nature has to be my own yard.

I live in a basement apartment, so my “front” windows look out onto the back patio and yard. I love sitting on my patio in the mornings (once it’s warm enough) and staring out at the lush grass, the baby fruit trees, and the brush at the back property line that hides a creek, a shopping center, and numerous rabbit colonies. I love to watch the towering cottonwood trees sway in the breezes, their leaves rustling and dancing against the blue sky. I love the peace I feel here despite the traffic sounds coming from the highway three houses away. Sometimes wild turkeys will wander through my yard from the nature preserve located across the interstate a half-mile away. Or baby rabbits will venture forth into the yard; if I’m quiet, they will sometimes come right up to the edge of the patio. Squirrels play in the trees nonstop, and the birds never stop shipping. One time I even saw a mouse trying to pick an apple from the dwarf apple tree! And there is a family of robins that nests on the supports under the deck above me. They come every year, and I love that they always build their nest in the exact same spot. I have never been anywhere else (except maybe Prince Edward Island) that has made me feel so peaceful and settled and home as right in this little spot, and honestly, when I need to get outside, it’s the first and only place that my soul longs to be in.