I used to have the complexion of your standard bit of old printer paper–not quite deathly white but close. I made a habit of seeing light only from screens and the cold comfort of fluorescent grocery store freezer aisles. It got to the point during grad school where people–strangers or friends–would tell me I looked terrible, and I’d just nod a bit because there’s a point past denial and even acceptance in which you just don’t recognize or care that you’re a person anymore. I spent a lot of time there.
In contrast, yesterday I fell asleep in the sun on a long flat rock by a river after eating blackberries I spent the morning picking. I’ve gone from the poster child of self destruction to some kind of hybrid between a college English instructor and an actual live-in-the woods brews-shit-in-a-cauldron witch. I’m perfectly ok with that.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how that I wish I could have been this content and open to vitamin D a few months ago. I’ve also begun to recognize how impossible that would have been. Sitting next to a river with a belly full of berries and wishing for problems and sources of stress that have long-since passed to have not mattered while they were very real is like sitting safe in a charred kitchen wishing you hadn’t worried about a grease fire that you had put out only moments ago. Yeah, it’d be nice if we could recognize that problems will resolve and stressful things may pass, but we still have to do stuff to get that done, and stress and panic and shitty health and translucent skin all contributed to getting my shit done and putting out fires.

I’m glad that I can spend an early morning walking through the woods, sticking my face in clear cold water, politely asking bees not to kill me, and glowering at a fisherman trudging through some bushes I had worked hard not to disrupt. I’m glad I can sit somewhere and look at fish drifting through the water just doing their own thing while a train whistles through the trees nearby. And I’m glad I got my work done, and I’m lucky the rough parts actually ended because it doesn’t always work like that.

But instead of doing work I don’t like or decaying in rooms with synthetic light, I can be outside and look at trees and flowers and a pleasantly running river. Taking a moment to recognize the contrast between my life now and my life a few years ago tells me something nice: I’d really rather not go back to all that. I want to look at plants and acknowledge that my skin is allowed to take on a marginally more healthy hue.
Now, I’m going to go pick more berries and indulge in more rock naps for the good of future me who will most certainly one day be stressed and depressed and need some good memories to rely on.
I know you didn’t say you were going to, but don’t eat that flower. I’m not certain, but it might be poison hemlock. Nature is still beautiful even when it wants to kill you! I’m glad you’re having fun!
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Hmm I wasn’t planning on eating it, but now I love it even more because it’s dangerous. Thanks for letting me know!
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I love this. My favorite place to be is in the woods, alone, not eating poisonous flowers. No matter how bad the day, a long walk in the woods always makes it some better.
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Yeah, I mostly just liked the little poison plant because it looks so interesting. I’m not going to eat it, just nap near it. The long walk in the woods definitely makes most things feel much better
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No problem! It also might be anise or something, but I just didn’t want you dying on your vacation!
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That’s a very good point. Not dying is my top priority
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A day in the wilderness is good for the soul.
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It definitely was 🙂
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Terribly off topic but wild blackberries make the best blackberry pies. If you decide on a life as a rock-napping-English-instructing-kitchen-witch, cook the berries with some lemon juice and zest in your cauldron. Pour it into a pastry crust, top with a crumble top and bake.
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It doesn’t matter if it’s a post about how much I hate the printer in my building, if something I write inspires you to tell me about a delicious pie, you abandon all restraint and tell me right away because there is nothing better than someone telling you how to do something delicious. That sounds pretty fantastic, and my goal is to one day be the kind of grandmother that chills pies on a windowsill or space window or whatever we have by the time I’m a granny
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You’re seeing so many pretty things! Good thing you’re building memories to take home, since I believe stealing entire places and taking them with you is still frowned upon.
And good on your for not murdering anyone. Look at you, all proper and non-murderous.
Enjoy every nap and every bush and everything! 🙂
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I am! There’s a lot more here I’m planning on writing about, particularly the continued not murder
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