Light over the Adirondacks mountains shines as it goes through my window hitting my face. My body and life outside are connected: it's time to wake up. As I flicker my eyes open my ears pick up the birds chirping to each other, the squirrels chewing outside my window and the day starts. It's time to move and face the day. The sun doesn’t wait for anybody; it sets and rises. I'm a person of routine. I do the same things again and again. I find it comforting knowing that the sun will always set and the sun will always rise with the world still full of life. The birds fly down to peck on the seeds from my coup, the squirrels search for food around my yard and my cat lays on me waiting for food.
But nature is unpredictable sometimes and it's never the same. The sunsets are full of different mixtures of colors, never the same as the day before, and it slowly starts rising later in the day. Down to the details it's always changing. The tectonics plates are slowly moving, and bacteria breaking down carcasses continuing the flow of nutrients. That scares me because it's something that I might not be able to handle but it's also exciting. One day I might see a skunk eating the trash bags or maybe I see a opossum outside my window! Although I'm someone who is very organized and likes to plan everything, my land and the world around me doesn't care. It throws at me a huge turtle in my family's garden, a storm without warning on a sunny day and a bobcat lurking around my house waiting to eat my chickens. As I grew up in Vermont, I've come to love how full of life the land is even though my chickens end up dead and the trash spread outside stinking the place.
I can embrace change and the imperfections of the world. Not everything will be something I can plan for and be prepared for, but I can adapt just like how humans and life around me has done the past billions of years. Like how camels store fat to survive in dry areas or recently how salmon have started migrating earlier than before to salt waters due to rising temperatures in fresh waters. To continue, seeds become sprouts then flowers, the days become shorter, and the leaves start to change into beautiful colors. I’m growing and always adapting just like the environment. When the days are the longest and you see monarchs fluttering, I turn a different digit in this world. I can’t wait to continue growing and changing with the environment around me!
Let's fight climate change though so it doesn't make life harder for everyone now and in the future.