What Influences Me?
When I was a kid, life seemed a little simpler. The outdoors was our natural playground. If you were found inside the house on a beautiful day doing something like watching tv, you would eventually be told to go back to nature.
My summers were filled with swimming, bike riding, sleep overs, going on long walks, and discovering the unknown of my neighborhood. I once even caught a shell while fishing. No, not a shellfish, but just a shell. That tiny hook on my barbie fish rod managed to get caught in a tiny hole inside a shell. I still tell that story decades later as if it was done by magic or God almighty himself.
I think as you age, you begin to look back with rose colored glasses. I was probably disappointed that I didn’t bring home a fish like everyone else, but now I see that shell as a prize of sorts. The mere miracle of nature itself. The current had to be just right and so did my cast. All things combined to create something as magnificent as a 5 year old child catching a sea shell instead of a fish.
What will my children remember with rose colored glasses decades from now? I worry that it will not be as memorable due to all of the constant technology. Will my daughter think back to catching tadpoles and raising them to become frogs or will she think about how she played The Sims 4 where she could make life what she wanted it to be? Will my children remember the year the world shut down and we were fortunate enough to be living deep in the woods and on a lake? Where we raised chickens and ducks just for the pleasure of it.
Nature has always been my greatest influence, from the sounds to the sights. For me, being outside changes me down to my core. The further I am from man made distractions, the closer I seem to be to myself.
Writing In The Deep 