When one rides through the Green Mountains of Vermont on a mid-summer day the overwhelming thought runs through your mind that it should be illegal for people to be allowed to live here. Gorgeous, well-kept farms and lawns sit atop rolling hills back dropped with breathtaking mountains deep green from the winter snows. The roadsides are littered with Black-Eyed Susans, Queen Anne’s Lace, Day Lilies and Purple Astors. The ponds are layered with Water Lilies and ringed with Purple Loose Strife. The deep blue sky is decorated with cumulous clouds billowing over a scene Monet could never reproduce. Thoughts run through your mind like, “Let’s quit our jobs and move here.” It is far away from the Disney Lands, Wall Drugs and Williamsburgs of our land. It is just the world the way it is supposed to be.
Perhaps children belted into the back seats of the family SUV would say, “When are we going to get where we’re going?” Or “I’m bored.” It is that way when we are small. Paul said, “When I was a child I thought as a child. But now that I am a man I think as a man.” There are so many things in life that change for us as we develop from one stage of life to another. Each stage has its wonders and things to appreciate. No longer am I fascinated by toy trucks. Now I am overwhelmed the complexity of a Vermont ecozone. The miracle of life fills me with awe and whets my appetite for an eternity of study. The best is yet to come!
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 30, 2003 and now he sleeps awaiting that eternity of study.
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453