Children, Books and Nature

When I was a child, my whole world revolved around nature and books. We lived on a lot of undeveloped land and I was free to explore and learn, hands on, about my world. When I couldn't get outdoors, or when I was traveling, I would read instead. It fulfilled the same purpose, I read to explore and learn about life. And in some ways, books resemble nature. Both can be wild, raw, soothing and enlightening. Each removed me from my ordinary world and transported me into my imagination. I find no irony in the fact that I am an English lit major or that I am also a nature photographer ( I spent two years in Yellowstone with nothing but a camera and a trunk full of books). Books and nature were portals to something much larger than myself, and they remain so. The good ones, anyway!