Growing up in "Small Town USA"

               I was born and raised in a small town. To the people in surrounding cities we were all labeled as farmers; because we do have a lot of farm land where I am from. But only a hand full of families actually farm. One of those families happens to be my boyfriend’s family, so within the last two years or so I have spent a lot more time out in the country than ever before in my life. My mother however is not an “outdoorsy” person, so I have always lived in a neighborhood full of other families; and I am so grateful for that because I had so many friends to play with.  I would not change my childhood for anything. Living in a small town allowed me, my friends and my siblings the ability to roam freely through the neighborhoods, and play outside at our hearts content. We spent all of our free time playing outside. When we heard our dad whistle we knew it was time to go inside for supper. My fondest memories of growing up are all based around things us neighborhood kids would do together outside.

                Our summer times were spent outside on bikes, roller blades, and on our feet. I cannot count the number of walks we went on. Nor can I count the numerous times we would all hop on our bikes and ride a little over a mile away to our local ice cream parlor for a cold treat. When fall would approach the colder temperatures would not deter us from doing exactly what we did in the summertime. Only in the fall we would wear more layers. We enjoyed raking each neighbor’s yard and jumping in all of the leaves. The bitter cold winters had the ability to keep us glued to the television at times. But the day’s I remember best are the ones when the snow plow would come down our street and push all of the snow from our cul de sac onto the two sides of the “dead end street” (as we liked to call it). After the plow did the heavy lifting for us we would create the most epic snow forts. Even though I did not live near the woods or out in the middle of nowhere, I had plenty of Mother Nature to enjoy while growing up.

             

                  To this day there is nothing like being outside to me. If I am having a bad day I would much rather be outside rather than inside because everything just seems better when you are standing out in the fresh air. It has a way of making me feel like I’m at peace and not alone. A few years back I was at a bible study and we were discussing the verse Psalm 46:10, which reads “Be still and know that I am God.” And traditionally in a lot of churches people take that verse to mean go sit in a dark place alone with you and God. But we decided that the act of “being still” could look different for each person. One woman said it was when she was out in her garden. And as the years went on I have come to realize that “being still” for me is to be outdoors, in nature. I don’t have to be in the middle of the woods, but just the act of walking outdoors has that affect for me. Nature is peaceful and it really is a gift from God. 

Why am I writing this? And why are you reading it?

If you are reading this blog it is probably because you are also in the class it is for. This means you know exactly why I have created it, out of obligation. But just in case for some odd reason someone out there comes across it and wants to know what it is about, it is for a class that I am taking at the university I attend. I am a junior; but this is my first semester at GVSU. I am not an English major, so please forgive me if my writing reflects that (I hope it will not). 

The class is an environmental literature class. I am taking the course because it falls into two different categories of classes I need before GVSU will give me a diploma, thus killing two birds with one stone. There were however a couple of courses that fit in that same category, but this one sounded the most interesting.

As far as the writing thing goes, it's honestly not my favorite. I'm more of an "A picture is worth a thousand words" kind of girl. However I don't think just posting pictures is going to fly if my professor tells us to write a thousand words on a topic. It also won't fly when I have to write something in my chosen profession one day. So I will admit that the writing aspect of this class is important. (Side note: if anyone out there tried/ ever does try turning in a picture instead of a paper I would be very interested to know how that turned out, and as my prof always says "it would make a great blog topic.")

                        (Pictured is my boyfriend's parent's back yard) 

 I do however love nature. I wouldn't identify myself as a "tree hugger" or anything of that nature, but I am a lover of the outdoors. There is just something about being outdoors that makes me feel like I am not alone even if I am (more on that in a later blog post).

If you have read this and are still interested in following my blog, let me tell you a little bit about some of the topics I plan on writing about. Some of the topics will be assigned to us by our Professor, so at this time I am unable to divulge into what those will be. But for the posts where I have to come up with something on my own you will probably learn about some of my favorite places in nature to visit, or places that I would like to visit. You may also learn something about me and how I usually tie most things back to my faith. Or you might just learn about one of the books we are reading in class, because if I am being forced to read it I might as well make it useful and use it as a blog topic. Those are just a few of the things I might dive into while participating in our blog project throughout the semester. So if you are interested you will just have to check back later for the next post.