Never Ending Adventure: Story of My Life: Earth Day

Earth Day has always made me happy. A day that we get to celebrate our home. As an environmental educator, park ranger, naturalist, and someone who genuinely cares its something I strive to do most days. But Earth Day is the simple reminder that we live on a beautiful planet that sometimes needs a little extra love from us. I loved waking up this morning and reading all the beautiful Earth Day posts made by my friends. Beautiful quotes were shared, pictures of favorite wild places, science lessons with my favorite Park Rangers, a reading of the Lorax from my favorite EE staff, and memories of Earth Days when we Marched for Science.

Engine Room checks on the Sea Lion Express with Claire

My favorite quote that I saw this morning was posted by my amazing friend Claire. She has a way with words and can sum up everything that you are feeling in a moment in a very special way. Her writings have inspired me to write again, they have made me laugh, and they have made me cry. Today her words about Earth Day were the first thing I read this morning, so then I laid in bed and thought about what they meant to me.

Her post started with this quote:

“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

I have not read Braiding Sweetgrass...but it is on my list. This quote spoke to me. I have loved the earth for many many years. And I can think of exact moments when I felt the earth loved me back.

I fell in love with the earth by way of the ocean at a pretty young age in a small coastal North Carolina town. It also happens to be the town, much later in life, that I fell in love with myself and I fell in love with the "Never Ending Adventure" lifestyle that I adopted. I'm forever grateful to this beautiful town for all of these things. I'm also forever grateful to the people that I met their that inspired me to do all of these things. Jim, the retired marine biologist, who took time to share his knowledge and instill a love for the ocean year after year when I was a kid. Mindy and Meg, my bosses at my first job after college who became much more like family. The staff that I worked with at Sound to Sea who helped me to widen my view points of the world.

My view the moment I felt the earth love me back

The first place I felt the earth loved me back was in Myrtle Beach in March of 2011. I sat on the beach before sunrise sobbing. I was there to take water samples at the exact time as 30 other students spread across cities beaches. I was sobbing because I had just broken up with my boyfriend the night before and I couldn't sleep, so I drove to my designated sample spot hours early. I sat on the beach and cried for hours, but as I watched the sun come up I felt something in me change. I could feel the power of the love of the ocean and our earth.

Since that day I have tried to stop and love the earth everyday in some way. But every now and then I get to feel that she loves me back. I felt her the night I sat on the beach and watched a meteor shower overhead and watched a green sea turtle nest hatch. I felt her the night I played with bioluminescence off the end of my dock in Edisto. I felt her watching the sun rise on Cadillac Mountain in Maine. I have felt her many times since moving to Alaska.

Green Sea Turtle Hatching

Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain

Listening to the Wolves

Waking up on the top of a mountain surrounded by fog and mist to the sound of wolves howling all around was a great way to feel the love of the earth around. There was a day several years ago that I stood with Claire on the top of the Sea Lion Express at the end of a very rough summer during one of our last tours of the year, we were surrounded by Orcas. We were so surrounded by Orcas that our captain turned off the boat, and Claire, myself, and our 12 guests listened to the Orcas in silence. It was a magical moment that I will never ever forget.

Watching Orcas play around and under our boat with Claire

I think at this moment loving the earth brings me so much calm and grounds me. It reminds me that nature keeps going. Spring is arriving, animals are migrating, flowers are blooming, and nature isn't stopping. Our lives are on pause, but nature isn't. It gives me some sense of normalcy, and I think we all need a little of that. So today on this beautiful earth day, get outside. Have a picnic in your backyard. Take a walk around the block. If you are lucky enough to have trails open near you, go walk on a trail. But take time to notice the flowers, the new blooms, birds singing. These are all things that would be happening whether our lives are on pause or not. And I find that comforting.

So on this Earth Day go show your love for nature, and if you are lucky you will feel that she loves you back!