Tree Hugger

 Tree Hugger

This past week in class we went tree hugging at the Tanglewood Personius Nature Center. Up until this point, I had never been tree hugging. The only hugging by a tree that I had ever encountered was when I tried kissing a tree (do not ask why). Let me walk you through my experience.

Picture this, being blindfolded in the middle of the woods, relying on some you do not really know to guide you and pick out a tree... a tree that you get to know. I started off my giving my tree a big hug, then I began to feel my tree up and get to know it. My tree was tall and thick, barely letting me get my arms around it. It was rough, but in a way that distinguished it from other trees. My tree had sharp ridges, my tree had lumps and bumps... then I was lead back to the main sight to find my tree without a blindfold.

When looking for your tree, you have to think about not only all of the tree’s characteristics but its surroundings as well. I knew my tree was downhill because  I could feel myself falling when I was walking around it. I knew my tree was in the sun because I could feel the rays on my back. Another thing I knew I had to keep in mind was that my tree had extra branches. These extra branches got a little touchy, but hey maybe that was natures way of hugging me back. I never knew that finding my tree would be so easy. Each tree is so different from the other, you are able to tell which tree is yours. The first one I went to was smooth and far too thin because I was able to get my arms around it so I knew that wasn’t my tree.

If I had not been blindfolded and challenged to find my tree, I probably would not have paid the same amount of attention to the tree than I did. Every tree’s roots are different. Every tree has a different trunk. Every tree is different.

Every week I continue to be more memorized by what I experience in this class. I enjoyed the tree hugging activity very much for two reasons. One being that you are trusting someone you do not really know to guide you in the woods blindfolded and not push you down. The second is that you learn to look beyond the tree itself and realize they are their own unique individual tree just like how we are our own unique, individual person.

Something to think about: I never thought not being able to see would make me appreciate nature more.

Sincerely, 
(newly cautious about the environment) Tiffany.