Topic that makes you lose all track of time
Welcome to Loantaka Brook Reservation, one of the places I love for its richness in nature. My family and I occasionally go there to ride our bikes. The breeze would blow gently on our faces, and our bicycles slicing through the wind would add to the coolness. The bike trail winds through the forest, and every turn is always excitingly terrifying, because you can’t see when there is another bicycler coming in your direction. The fun part of the ride isn’t the speeding ride of the trail, but it is me being with my family surrounded by green trees, occasionally smelling the sweet scent of flowers, and hearing the birds above me. Once, when we were racing through the forest, there came a slight uphill which slowed me down enough to notice my father standing next to his cycle, looking up towards the trees. At first I thought he must be enjoying the nature, so I braked my cycle and got off. I looked closely at the trees, then above towards the sky. Then I saw it. Birds. Not just a few of them. But thousands. Literally thousands. They were flying above the trees, all going in one direction. They weren’t stopping. They just kept coming from behind, and I was so awestruck. It was so fascinating. I never saw anything like it before. The entire sky was filled with them, all racing in one direction. They must have been migrating, but it wasn’t the way I was used to seeing birds migrate. I have always seen those V-formations, but never anything like this. Behind me, my brother and uncle had also reached and stopped near us, observing the scene. We stood there for a few minutes, watching, listening to their cawing and the flapping of their wings. My family wanted to finish the trail, so we eventually started moving, but I wanted to stay. If I could, I would have stayed there for hours if that’s how long it took the birds to pass from sight, imagining that just minutes had passed. I wanted to learn what was happening. While I was riding behind my family, my mind was in the air. I was flying in the sky above the trees, right next to the birds. I didn’t know where they were going, but I followed them anyway. The entire trip, I was thinking about the
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Topic that makes you lose all track of time
birds. I had been thinking about the direction in which they were traveling and wished that I had checked with my compass. But then I remembered how my father would have pushed me to figure it out myself, without the use of technology. He always encourages my brother and I to use our minds to figure things out, not to simply Google search every answer. I remembered that when I was looking upwards at the birds, I felt the sun in my eyes ahead and slightly to the left. The time was around three in the afternoon, which meant the sun was starting to set. I figured they must have been traveling north. I had figured out the direction the birds were traveling because of my father’s encouragement. I always turn to my father whenever I want to learn more about nature and science because he inspires me to think and ponder. If you ever can’t find me anywhere, you would most likely find me staring out a window. I have always been like that. Sometimes I get so engrossed in it that I forget everything else. I stare at the birds sitting on the electric wires for as long as I can. I observe the trees and how the leaves are always changing every season. I look closely at the ladybugs that crawl on the windowsill. Growing up, I have always loved looking at nature, and even more, being surrounded by it. Once I remember going to an animal petting farm where I began to feed a donkey with corn. The rest of the donkeys also came to eat from my hands. I was delighted. Normally, I would be considered a germaphobe by my habit of repeatedly washing my hands and avoiding touching things. But when it comes to the beautiful outdoors, I forget all my worries. I run my fingers through the grass, dig my fingers deep into the dirt, climb trees not caring about the insects, and feed and pet animals with my bare hands. I remember getting my hand wet with the donkey’s saliva, but I didn’t care. I was enjoying feeding them so much I didn’t even realize when my parents left me, or where they had gone. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but
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Topic that makes you lose all track of time
I was where I wanted to be. I eventually left the animals to find my parents, and I found them smiling at my being so engaged with the animals that I had forgotten about them. My personality is not simply to engage in nature and enjoy it. It’s more than that. When I am in nature, my mind is at work. I can think reasonably, recognize how things work, and reflect deeply on myself and life. I look at my surroundings, and I observe how the plants that had become so dry and drained of life in the winter become renewed with life and health in just weeks. It is my father whom I get much of my contemplative nature from. He shows me the night sky when there is an eclipse occurring. He points out the clouds when it is about to rain. And he is the one to push me to figure out the wind speed and its direction by observing the flag in front of our house wave. And through this constant observation of nature and using my mind to find out more, I am sure to always find a way to learn something new about the world I live in.
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