Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Considerations from the walk home.

Though it sounds very grand and poetic and dramatic to say (with a careless sweep of the arm), "I have always loved the way" of anything, as I so often begin to do, if I'm honest I have to say that there are very few things or people that I have always loved. The only two I can think of, as silly as it sounds, are trees and water. I'm not sure I've ever met a tree I didn't like, or even really a body of water, though I might like to have words with the Gauley river. Even with these, though, "I've always loved the way" would still be inaccurate. My love for trees and love for water have grown and changed with me. I have loved the support of trees, the strength of trees, the long lives of them. I loved a tree that grew from a branch that Sara and I planted by our elementary school library, and "watered" daily with orange juice from the cafeteria. Sometimes I love the power of water. Sometimes I love its ubiquitousness, sometimes its constancy, sometimes its variability. When does any love ever remain the same?


And yes, I know no one cares. And yes, I also know I'm a hippy. I even talk to trees sometimes, or pat them comfortingly. I am aware that this might arguably make me certifiably insane. At these times I am always having a small, nearly unconscious, back-of-the-mind conversation with myself:
"You know, Marie, generally speaking, trees do not have nervous systems or any sort of consciousness."
"Shut up. You don't know."

4 comments:

  1. Well, did you see Avatar? They might!

    Also, whenever I think about the plant we "took care of" I think about the shiny fence we polished and the top of the post that we crushed and mixed berries and stuff in.. Ahh, those were the days.

    I love the way trees smell. Like, the smell of bark or something... It's so comforting.

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  2. Um, I saw Avatar three times, and that's only because after that people didn't want to go with me anymore.

    I miss that fence, and the huge tree a few feet away. And our storm drain.

    Tree smells are pretty great. Today I smelled hot dirt smell for the first time this season. It was pretty magical.

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  3. I had mixed feelings on Avatar... I loved the world, the indigenous people and stuff... But I hated, hated, hated, the war plot. Way too much focus on screwing over the Navi than on the Navi themselves (though I know I'm supposed to feel appalled that that's what ended up happening). Sigh. I want to read fanfic about the planet and what happened after the movie though! Haha.

    Yeah, I miss our whole spot there... I actually just miss spending time outside. I don't remember the last time I've just sat in the grass, or gone exploring, wandering all those deer paths we found at Twin Rivers...

    Hot dirt smell is amazing! I've noticed that while the weather is more moderate here than Richmond, all the smells are muted. When it rains it smells like fertilizer, rather than wet grass, when it's hot it smells like asphalt =/.

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  4. Well if it makes you feel any better, Cameron is working on a 4(?) movie story arc. Anyway, I'm almost certain that there is plenty of Avatar fanfic out there. And if there's not enough, you can write some.

    Me tooooo. I'm not outside enough either. We should go to twin rivers in May if we can. Or June. Whatever.

    Muted spring smells are lame. :o/

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