This is enough...

Stroll along Sturgeon Bay, Wilderness State Park

I moved into my house here in northern Michigan, which sits on about an acre of land tucked into a rural neighborhood filled with woods and close access to large tracts of undeveloped spaces, located far from town, about a year and a half ago. Moving from a small lot on a lovely tree-lined borough outside Philly where the neighbors and necessities of life were within walking distance, and where I had plenty of friends, I wondered what in the heck I was doing. I mean, I knew I was heading back to my native state where I had extended family and friends but I worried how my life would unfold. I was accepted in progressive Philadelphia for my nature loving ways and tree hugger attitudes but I knew the Midwest was more conservative and I wondered where I would find connection. The answer has come in surprising ways.

Lake Michigan, Petoskey State Park

Thorne Swift Nature Preserve

When I first moved here, I started to use my old formula for meeting people when in a new area by visiting different groups, but very few groups stuck as I found my life surrounded by nature more captivating. Not that there was anything wrong with the folks I was meeting, it was just that I thought I had entered a place in my life where the pull to be in nature was stronger. Living where I do, I found the desire to be in the natural world outweighed being in the human world. And how could it not with the presence of Lake Michigan at my doorstep along with beautiful places to hike or visit? The enormity of the wilds takes on a huge role here and those who live in this area embrace it because they too love the outdoors. This thought got me to thinking. I have lived in many different states and many different housing situations, from tightly packed suburban neighborhoods to homes in rural locations. Was there a correlation between the amount of busyness and friends I had and the location where I lived? Could it be possible that the less natural settings I lived in resulted in me looking for connection in human based ways? Did living in a natural space result in me being happy right where I was and not needing to seek out human based connection?

We all need connection which can be found in so many ways but I have been wondering since moving here why I haven’t made many human connections, calling it my hermit stage in life. But I think there is more to it. Our culture dictates that connection is found through relationships with people and folks are made to feel good about themselves if they have many friends and activities. Being busy out in the human world is what people strive for which feels backwards to me now as I see how the natural world is filling me with a sense of connection. It is not that I am a hermit so much because that would signify me staying inside and hibernating whereas I am constantly outside, just not with people beyond my family. Thinking back on the other homes I have lived in that have offered more nature based settings, I realize even then I didn’t look outside my home base as much for people connections. The natural world was enough.

Overlooking Little Traverse Bay from the Little Traverse Wheelway Bike Path

 When I lived in the city, nature would stop me or my neighbors dead in our tracks. A beautiful sunset or a family of owls perched in a nearby tree. It no longer became important that we got to work or a meeting with friends on time. What the natural world was unfolding for us took precedence. We stopped to wonder at the beauty before us and all else was forgotten. That is what is happening to me here in Michigan, surrounded by beauty as I am. I have been stopped dead in my tracks, beholding the wonder of the natural world, with less of a desire to move forward into the human realm. This. This is enough.

OK, I must put a disclaimer in here just in case my son or daughter-in-law should read this post. This would be enough if only we lived closer to them. But soon we will have a little travel trailer, maybe a Scamp? and park it in a wooded area near them :)