Nature Moment!

Everyday is an adventure if you let it be, I suppose.  As I walked down the wooded path to Whitings Neck cave with seventeen eleven year olds I became really present to their wonder at the world around them.  With an experience ahead of them that was literally out of their normal sphere of the world, the had nervous energy that was full of anticipation.  Oftentimes it takes moments like that to remind me exactly how exciting, precious, and beautiful life is.  In the middle of my talk about safety, a particularly excitable kid started pointing and talking about a interesting looking red frog on the log next to me.  Of course, he didn’t mean to be rude; and in that moment I had the choice of whether to disregard what he was talking about and continue on with my plans or let that moment be, well, a nature moment.  Keeping myself flexible is important, not only as an instructor, but just as a person.  Being able to deviate from my plans to embrace those of another is a gift and a fundamental within a community.  Looking beyond self in order to see how someone else’s experience could be better and more meaningful.  So, we had that nature moment.  As cool as the cave was, the one thing that those kids talked about throughout the day was that frog and how dang cool it was.  I’m glad I stopped for that nature moment and hope that I remember to stop more because its important for them, and possibly more important for me.  

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