Celebrating Earth Day

Did you know that Earth Day is coming up? Yeah, I didn't either. Unlike Easter, Christmas, or even Columbus Day, Earth Day isn't a holiday that's etched into our culture in such a way that our lives revolve around it. Thus, it's easy to forget. Honestly, I've never even celebrated it. I'm a bad tree hugger.

This year, I decided to change that. I won't be throwing an Earth Day Extravaganza, organizing a protest, or even just turning off the lights; but I will be going outside.

Gasp!

I'll admit it, I spend about 85% of my life indoors. Growing up in Upstate NY, you learn rapidly that "spring" is synonymous with "punkie season" and "summer" is synonymous with "deerfly and mosquito season". (the other seasons are "everything dies" and "it's too cold to move") Now, I'm all for holding ladybugs, watching butterflies, and even feeding ants, but I am not so fond of the bugs that bite, thankyouverymuch. I'll just stay inside and read a book. Or read blogs. Or bake. Or scrub the toilet. Anything but be chased and bothered and bitten by an insect. Yuckola, man.

As I've gotten older though, I've become a bit more tolerant of the parts of nature that, well, aren't exactly ideal in my book. The truth is, everything in nature is ideal. I might see a blood-sucking malaria machine, but the daisy next to me sees a pollinator. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

I don't think I'll ever see a punkie with eyes that deem it beautiful, but I do see it's place in the world, and I've come to appreciate it.

So, to celebrate the spirit of appreciating nature I'll be spending Wednesday outside. All day hopefully. Maybe I'll be reading, maybe having a little picnic, who knows. It's true that the buggies will probably find me*, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I feel like the most profound thing I can do on the day that we honor the Earth is spend some time enjoying it. Even if I end up all itchy because of it.

With Love,
~Brande N.


*DISCLAIMER: This personal goal was made significantly easier by the fact that the biting insect population in The Berkshires is practically nonexistent compared to that of Upstate. Seriously, if you were to walk outside in my hometown right now, you'd be swarmed in minutes. I have yet to see any biting-bugs this year. (knock on wood!)

WHOA! Not even kidding, I just typed "knock on wood" and a mosquito flew into the computer screen and then flew away. Maybe I should have actually knocked on a piece of wood?