October 16, 2013
This morning I headed out to the preserve on foot; ready to
enjoy the cool morning air. It’s fall now and as the weather has changed, the
number of people using the park has risen. I imagine that it will be quite
crowded this winter after all the snowbirds arrive.
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| Eastern Ribbon snake |
As I walked in silence, I first met a small Eastern Ribbon
snake. He was quite delicate, only about a foot long, with a bluish green
stripe down his side. I’d never seen one before and stopped for a few moments
to observe.
Further along I met a man who was photographing a horseshoe
crab. He was very excited to have seen a bald eagle up close, so I told him
where a ranger often has a spotting scope set up to see the eagle’s nest on the
other side of the park.
As I walked on, a woman came up behind me and asked me how
long the trail was. I told her it was 3 miles around and takes about an hour.
She walked on, but kept stopping to look at things, and even showed me my tree
friends ‘the lovers,’ remarking how interestingly they entwine. S
he went ahead and I was distracted by a 4-foot long Rat snake (yellow with blackish stripes) that crossed my path. I motioned to an oncoming biker to slow down so he wouldn’t hit it.
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| Robinson landscape |
At the next bridge I caught up to the woman again, who
pointed out some large fish in the stream and a Yellow-crowned Night-heron in
the bushes. We walked together talking about nature and how healing it is, and
how much we both enjoyed the park. I was thinking about turning around and
walking back through the mangroves instead of doing the loop, when she asked if
I wanted to be alone and silent. I decided that it might be fun to talk to her
for a while, so we continued on.
This woman lives just down the street from me and is
originally from Croatia. She had breast cancer this year and is still
recovering. I hadn’t noticed until she told me, that under her loose shirt she
only had one breast. This was the first time she had walked around the loop
since her surgery, chemo and radiation. She feels good. We agreed that being in
nature is very healing and enjoying the clean fresh air here is a wonderful
thing to do. She also talked about how grateful she is now for the small things
and for each day; a wonderful reminder for me.
So my walking meditation wasn’t silent today, but I still got a message from the universe. I am grateful that I took the time to connect
and communicate with another facet of nature today – humans.
