Hey Stemians!
This weekend I took a little trip to Port Charlotte, Florida. It was filled with boat rides, wake-boarding, chilling by the pool, and dancing. I got to swim with dolphins! Or rather, I got to swim in the same area as dolphins since the 10 of them were getting nowhere near us humans. It was still amazing as I have never seen wild dolphins up close.
On Monday, as we were exploring some of the piers and enjoying the scenery we came across this gorgeous tree. She’s tall, with two strong arms and beautiful Spanish Moss cascading down like strands of hair. She called to me as soon as I stepped out of the car and into the small park we stumbled upon. I’m going to warn you right now: yes I am a hippy and yes I hug trees. And what a glorious hug it was! Even my boyfriend couldn’t resist. It was so empowering to connect with Mother Earth through this tree. We laughed and skipped off to check out the small beach.
The water was calm, glistening in the sunlight, and we talked about how cool it is that the Earth has all these different terrains that are just built for adventures. My boyfriend is a snowboarder, so his heart is in the mountains, and he said that there is something so mysterious about them. And I chimed in that I love deep dark forests and they definitely have mysteries within them. Oceans and deserts have their own secrets and we can imagine so many unique and inspiring stories that could (and do) spring out of these places.
“Look, there’s a conch shell in between those rocks,” my boyfriend exclaimed suddenly. The shell was perfectly positioned with its spiral top shining bright against the black rocks so we stepped down from the little concrete ledge and picked it out. It is fully intact and looks like a treasure.
“Thanks mother Gaia!” I said and we both agreed that this was absolutely worth the half hour of aimless back-road driving.
We gave Earth a hug, she gave us a gift. I think that actually counts as two gifts.