I'm not sitting outside where I want to be on this Indian Summer day, beneath a tamarack tree or on a creek bank, but I can see golden oak tree tops through my window. They glow in the afternoon sunlight prettier than any fluorescent city lights at night.
My title is asking you an important question, one I've thought about often in the last few years. I believe what you leave behind for your family and friends is so important. Wealth and material things don't seem to be at the top of my list. What's important to me is probably pretty clear if you've been following my blog posts. I'd like to think you're enjoying the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and golds of Autumn right now. I'd like you to find wonders in every season, even small but precious things like drops of dew on spiderwebs, the swirling center of a daisy, bark peeling off a shaggy river birch tree, or as written in my bio, "the moss that grows on the oak tree just down the street".
Why is sharing the love I have for nature so important to me? I have to dig down deep and pull it out in words, that's kind of hard, but not really. I think about how so many people go about their day thinking only about their inside walls world. I feel sad for children who've never picked up a toad or a caterpillar. Exploring and spending time outdoors can bring you needed inner peace, there may not be a lot of action happening in your back yard or local park, but if you look hard enough and open up your eyes you will see something beautiful in nature every time. Observing nature is easy to do. The outside world reminds us how small we are in nature's grand scheme and how miraculous things happen every day. It restores our broken spirits and makes me step back and realize how lucky I am to be a part of God's wonderful Wisconsin.
When I m gone I'd like to think someone might say, "She taught me to notice the sunsets a little more often." Yes, that's what I hope my legacy will be and I'd like to think others who come after me will share the same legacy that I do.
