Walking in Wetlands: A Meditation

Alligators, anhingas, and deep Florida humidity—oh my!

Tucked away in South Florida along Hagen Ranch Road is Green Cay Nature Center & Wetlands, a 100-acre nature preserve with a raised wooden boardwalk and an array of wildlife including alligators, birds, turtles, and on the rare occasion, even bobcats. I started visiting this oasis consistently during the pandemic when restaurants closed, my social calendar cleared, and everything seemed to slow down to a stop.

In this sudden stillness, I turned my focus to nature.

The outdoor walks became a balm for my weary spirit. While I wasn’t able to see friends who lived in different states in person, I talked to fellow masked bird-watchers, equipped with binoculars, digital cameras with lenses bigger than my forearms, and a deep interest in sharing their knowledge of the wetlands. They pointed out where the alligators liked to sunbathe, what bird happened to be drying its wings in the sunlight, and the rare sight of a bobcat eating something they couldn’t identify (maybe what was once a rabbit?) off the boardwalk and down the grassy path.

The more I walked along the boardwalk, the more I noticed when the alligators were swimming instead of sunbathing, when a turtle poked its head above the water, or when birds like the roseate spoonbill made a miraculous appearance.

When immersed in nature, I paused my doomscrolling and found temporary relief from caretaking for my mom, who was diagnosed with a rare cancer during the pandemic. The miles I walked in the thick summer humidity or the crisp fall air never seemed to get old. Instead, the wetlands welcomed me back again and again to offer me a view of wildlife hidden in plain sight, and a glimpse of who I am beneath the surface when what used to define my life had been cleared away. 

Yes, this is indeed some kind of (humid) paradise.

Who am I? I am a writer who enjoys the written word, a solo traveler who explores places within and in the world, a human who loves breathing in experiences and exhaling out thoughts within this beautiful life.

When the day job and admin and the everyday has been cleared away, I have realized…

I am simply a soul with a body; I am a lover of life.

As always, when in doubt, I think about what Mary Oliver would say. And in this time, I think of her poem, The Summer Day, which I will leave here for your viewing pleasure:

The Summer Day
By Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

If you look closely, you can see an alligator sunbathing.