Child of Nature

My family moved from Florida when I was a teenager and I distinctly remember thinking “I’m never going back, there are too many exciting places to live and I want to explore the world.” Never say never. I did go explore the world and live in many exciting places, but eventually I found my way back.

Lured by the ocean, I moved to Florida two decades later and made it my permanent home. I didn’t realize until I was living here as an adult, how much of the environment I absorbed as a child. The smell just before a rain, the steam rising from the asphalt after, the magnificent clouds and sunsets that are unimaginably beautiful. 

It was nature rather than location that enticed me. The environment here is exhilarating. There is never a lack of opportunity to immerse yourself. Water, sun, clouds, the color of light, the smell of heat-baked earth inspire my activities and my art. I never would have imagined I could be drawn to the scent of baking earth but apparently my childhood senses were imprinted with nature and when I returned to Florida as an adult, it felt like home.

This topic also hits home, thank you Hsin-Chen for the opportunity to explore the environment and ecology in this challenge.