A New Leaf

           St. Louis is not an outdoorsy city. It’s a typical Midwestern landscape. Kentucky Blue grass, trees, bushes, and woods intertwined throughout the suburbs, restaurants, and shopping centers. There are surely more hills than you’ll find in Fort Worth and real rivers capable of taking out neighborhoods with one tragic flood. Nothing like the Trinity, which is more of a creek if you ask me. We don’t have mountains or oceans. We have parks. Forest Park is one of probably two places in St. Louis where you will see people running or biking aside from their own neighborhoods. The other is Castlewood State Park, which offers hiking trails along the Meramec River. I sit here on my front porch and reflect on the time I’ve enjoyed nature in St. Louis given the minimal nature opportunities this city offers.

            As a child, I loved being outside. My parents would strongly encourage me to play outside as long as weather allowed. My parents discouraged me from playing inside my neighbors’ houses because they knew I’d probably get sucked into video games or TV. At the time I couldn’t understand why they placed these strict rules on me. Didn’t they want me to socialize and adhere to the norms of the kids my age? Looking back, I appreciate these rules. I would love to be outside as much now as I was when I was a kid. As a kid, I explored the woods behind my house. I saw deer regularly. I explored the creek across the street. I rode my bike all the time. I made up games. I was the most creative I’ve ever been and possibly ever would be. I attribute this all to the time I spent outside. It allowed me to use my imagination and form my own ideas. I stayed active and healthy. I learned to enjoy hanging out with friends without technology. It influenced who I am today.

At the time, we lived in a house that backed up to a forest, therefore, I was exposed to much more greenery and nature in my backyards than most of my friends. When I was 12, we moved to a ranch situated directly in the center of a forest. It is a neighborhood quite out of the ordinary for a St. Louis suburb. People describe it as a resort of sorts. To give you a better sense, our particular neighborhood allows bow-hunting and my neighbor has a deer stand in his front yard from which he shoot squirrels from time to time. (There are plenty of squirrels and deer to go around.) The greatest thing about our neighborhood are the lakes. Three of them. They allow fishing and use of trolling motor boats. When most people have to travel hours to go fishing, all I had to do was walk a mile to the neighborhood lake. I’m lucky to have access to nature right outside of my door in a city where nature is scarce.

In a few months I will no longer come back to this front porch, this forest, these lakes. I take in the view as the warm sunset peeks through the tall trees shedding their orange and brown leaves. The wind brings life to the branches The breeze is fresh, sometimes fiery. I want to bottle it up and bring it back to Fort Worth. This place has been good to me these 21 years. Thank you, earth.