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Personal places
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Feb 22, 2012 6:18 am
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Personal Places
. I have lived in four states: Washington, Arkansas, Nebraska and now Colorado. Each with its own: energy, personal place, memory and their own time in my life. From childhood to adulthood, we all experience these personal places in different ways as we relive these places with in our memories bringing back feelings and understandings of each. I tucked them away in my mind these places, these moments in time, whose memories are just mine. They can only be shared by me and only if I so chose too. In these places there are no: stresses, sickness, sadness, only peaceful reflections. They are physical places that I have visited and became a special place for me at the time; but once I left they became personal places in which I could revisit with in my mind. An experience so profound with such energy that when recalled I can feel it all over again as though I was still there.
My childhood personal places mostly come from memories of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. Often times it would before sunrise, in which I was the only one awake. These places taught me the love of nature and the value of a quiet moment all to myself. The morning air was damp with the morning dew as I breathed in deeply; the air feels crisp and cold in my nostrils. Shaking off the morning sleepiness, the world slowly awakens as the sun peeks timidly over the tree tops quietly nestled on the mountain side. The chirping of nearby birds become the sounds of many flutes, as the bellowing of bullfrogs become the deep voices of the baritones. Nature’s song softly begins each animal, insect, and plant adding their voice to nature’s song. I sense peace and harmony in this place. I open my eyes and through the morning mist I see hues and values of many colors. My eyes adjusting as light of morning brightens bringing in to view nature’s wondrous tapestry all around me like colorful blanket. Majestic trees swaying gently to in the morning breeze moves them as they create the framework for nature’s grand masterpiece. I see nature’s balance of art as far as I can see. The water of the babbling brook is ice cold from the glaciers from which it travels, numbing my toes as they dangle briefly in to it. I feel the gentle brush of the fuzzy caterpillar as it uses my shoulder like a bridge to another leafy meal. Here I feel nature’s many textures in this place. The red berry is sweet and a delight to my taste buds as the black berry is succulent to my palette as any gourmet foods should be. This place intrigues all my senses. I do not wish to leave this place; it is mine even if only for the moment. I tuck it away in my memories and in my mind. It is forever suspended, kept safe for another time when all peace, harmony and balance seem so far away. As childhood fades, adulthood emerges with it comes new personal places as I fallow life’s energy.
After graduating high school I moved to Arkansas, and lived in the Ozark Mountains for a short time. Here felt a part of something older and greater then I was/am. These Mountains expanded my understanding of my love of nature. A lesson I learned from this place is that time will take care of its self. The land is ancient here, spirits of days past walk among the trees. Their whispers are heard upon the summer breeze, talking of adventures long forgotten, of love faded, and of life reborn. The land is wise as it is old; wisdom beyond its creation. There is no sense of hurry here, for time seems to have slowed in this place. As though the land knows there will be a tomorrow that time will go on even after all is gone from here. Through seasons past and seasons to come this land will live on in its own time its own place and in the memories of those who pass through here. This place teaches me to slow my mind and enjoy what is here for the moment, for the next moment will come in its own time. With the passing of time this special place becomes a personal place for me. As with the passing of time, this memory passes and time to move one comes.
My childbearing years was spent in Nebraska, where all three of my children were born and where one of them died. It was this place that I discovered the people tend to be much like the land in which they live or they are there briefly to learn something about themselves. What I learned from this place is that I was stronger than I thought I was. Life is hard in this place, hash as its land. The land seems almost barren but yet life hangs on here, in a balance only a power beyond my comprehension understands. Clumps of dry grass grow scattered among the vast tumbleweeds. There is death in this place yet there is life reborn here too, for without birth there cannot be death. Just as without winter there cannot be spring. All is forever caught in the circle of life that none can escape. The shallow river brings what seems like the only visible life around this place. The water of this place brings life sustaining nutrients to plant, animal, and human life alike. From this the land brings forth sweetness that of different tastes and visions of color, an oasis among a harsh dry land. The wind carries biting sand that stings my exposed skin as thought to say, “You cannot stay here”. Defiant as the people that live here in this place I stay a bit longer as to reply, “I am strong as you are”. The people are as strong as the land is harsh here; I feel their strength around me. As time passes, I feel the need to move on from this place, I am only to be here for a limited amount of time. When I feel my strength wane, I only have to draw upon this personal place to regain my strength. I move on as this place dissipates into the vapors of the afternoon sun, only for a new vision to appropriate with in my mind.
Three years ago I moved to Colorado near the Rocky Mountains. This land, this place in my life is new to me. The distant mountains call, reminding me of my childhood mountains. The land beckons me “welcome “. I stand looking in wonder as I feel a sense of ageless energy here as the mountains stretch out before me to the west. It is not for me to say how long I am to be here, for life reveals things in its own time. It maybe only until I am called way to find yet another personal place, whose energy calls to me. For now I stay discovering what draws me to this place even if it is just a place with in my mind.
I traveled to many places only to discover that a personal place can be a place within a bigger place, just as a memory can be within an even bigger memory. Names of place are not needed for each of us experience our own personal place in our own way and our own land. We do not have to learn anything from these places, but only to experience those things around us. A personal place when drawn upon with in our memories can be used in many ways: for reflection, renewal of spirit, and renewed energy. As the miles, time, and energy between places can be great, they can be minuscule in the grandest of pictures. A personal place is those things with in my mind that only I know; a moment in time, a dream, a lesson learned. Within each personal place, an energy so strong that I can feel it all over again.
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