You Are What You Were

Elderly grandma that I am, I still inhabit the soul I was given. From the time I was aware at a very young age, I was always outdoors looking at everything. In our first family house there was a large unkempt yard out back. We kids had a huge sandpile in which we made habitats with small toys. What interested me more were the hollyhocks that bloomed next to it. I watched those wonderful blooming flowers and I noticed when they evolved into those round seeds closely nestled next to the stalks. I would peel these off and look at them, wondering at their disk shaped seeds. I planted many of them, but I don't know if they ever came up. I was four.

Throughout elementary school when I had a huge range to explore in our small town, I rode my bike daily to the woods on the edge of town, usually with friends. We explored, observed, made fires and smoked corn silks. All the time I was observant of the plants that grew there in upstate New York. I looked for the rare pink lady slippers, the white bloodroot that bloomed in early spring. I loved the trillium that bloomed in the woods.

Back in the town I noticed when the earliest snowdrops bloomed, and then the scilla and then the crocuses. I could go back there right now and tell you where to find them.

But many years pass and these interests in the natural world took a back seat to changing locales, the business of coming to be a grown-up, having a career and a family. But these interests have always been with me.

Today as I was walking in the woods, which I do every day, I rejoice in the wildflowers that I know like the back of my hand. Here are the snakeroots, the blue curls, the farewell to summer, the Caesar weed and all the mosses and epiphytes. I have to dodge the huge golden orb weaver webs where the inhabitant is large and getting ready to make an egg sack for the next season. I see a lovely red rat snake dancing across the barn floor.  The deer and the turkeys and the fox squirrels are always there somewhere. This is where I was meant to be!

I think that people need to look at their earliest interests to know where they are meant to be. I have always told my students that they need to examine what their passions are to see what they should study and pursue. Sometimes I am talking to a student who seems to be interested in manicures and hair and I think.. O.K. you are interested in the personal and physical lives of people. Maybe healthcare?

When I am doing my volunteer activities with kids I can sometimes clearly see where a given kid is going. That girl who is such a great observer may be going into science. That lovely little nine year old boy who cradles a bug in his hand may become an ecologist. The boy who talks only of violence, guns, and mayhem might be..a tea party person, or could surprise everyone and be a good dad and a birder?

We need to ask kids, and each other, what their real passions are. Whatever age you are, if you reflect on this, you'll know more about yourself.