 |
 |
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Hellbender Journal Summer/Fall 2001 A Place Where Nature Lives By Lara Huffman Suburban America does not offer much nature joy to its inhabitants. I should know after spending the first 20 years of my life in suburbs. Only recently I have come to enjoy the wonders of nature. The only fields I played in as a child were baseball fields. The only parks I prounced around in were specifically designed parks placed on plots in my neighborhood or my friends'. My hatred was towards the outside world. I didn't like playing in my family's small back yard. Riding around on my bike in the same neighborhood that I had a hundred times before bored me. I would pick staying indoors over outside every time I was given a choice. There weren't any state parks near where I lived. I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri where there are many state parks, none of them I ever went to. I was more of a mall and movies kind of gal. Also my family was more than likely to attend a historic site rather than a state park. I moved to Pennsylvania when I was 18 years old. My family moved from one suburb to another. This one was different though. Instead of seeing a major two way road and a fire station house from my backyard, I now saw beautiful farm fields and hills full of trees. The sight of unsuburbized land was foreign to me. In college I met a nature-loving girl named Stephanie. She became my chemistry lab partner and my friend. She would tell me during down time about this place she loved to go to whenever she could called McConnell's Mill. She would go by herself or with a friend and just spend hours there doing absolutely nothing. Her stories intrigued me so I asked her if she would ever take me. I have never felt so much peace before in my life. I sat on the edge of a giant boulder in the middle of Slippery Rock Creek and listened to the sound of the water rushing by. I heard the whispers the trees made as the wind blew right through them. For the first time, I understood how people could spend countless hours outdoors. The seven miles of trails weren't an obstacle, but an adventure. My legs hurt from hiking the trails because apparently I was using muscles I have never used before. My pale skin reddened from the hours of sun exposure. Now as I live in the city while I go to school, I look forward to my next visit back to McConnell's Mill. I cannot wait to take my shoes and socks off and dip my toes into the water. The thought of only the sound of the wind and birds in the air instead of the honking and the yelling of the busy city streets, make me homesick for a place where nature lives. |
|
|
|
|