i'm in love, i'm in love, and i don't care who knows it!

i have a love affair with the earth. i could spend all my time with it and never get bored. we are in love. me with the earth and the earth with me. we are so infatuated with each other that we give each other silly compliments like "mother nature, you are looking lovely today" and "rachael, i am giving rexburg this gorgeous sunset just for you." sometimes i under-appreciate it and i always run back saying "i don't know what i was thinking! the tv just has a way of luring me in! will you please forgive me??"....

....and it always does. because our love is strong.

most of the time i just feel like the earth wears the pants in our relationship. i need it more than it needs me. and i just think it is so mysterious and elusive. i never know what it's thinking! it doesn't talk very much. but it's always there.

have you ever read the alchemist? it's a good book. one of the main themes is the soul of the world. i totally think the earth has a soul, a spirit and it kind of freaks me out at the same time that it enamors me. it's alive and you can just sense it when you're surrounded by nature and you can hear the wind blowing, the river flowing, the grass growing. (alright, i only said that last one because i coulnd't pass up the perfect rhyme...pretty good, huh?) but i do think there is something magical about the earth. when i sit still, i can hear, or more likely, sense the earth's aliveness. when the earth is loud, like during a thunderstorm, it's alive. when it's quite, like during a silent, peaceful snowstorm, it's alive.

some of my best memories are when i am camping far away from civilization. it's cold, dark, the crickets are loudly harmonizing, the mountains are wisely looking down on me and i feel so ridiculously connected to the earth. not coincidentally, it's almost always when i feel the closest to the spirit. i can't be bothered with worldly problems when i'm in nature because nature is so....un-worldly.

today, i got out of my car after my new self-defense class (i'm stoked, by the way!) and there was the most beautiful sunset spilling over the mountains and some great second coming clouds. and the temple was right there, right across the street from me, next to this sunset, and i just stopped for a minute and stood in the parking lot and said a prayer of thanks, which i don't remember to do very often. and that was one of those moments when i remembered my sometimes-forgotten love affair with the earth.

but instead of bringing the earth flowers and chocolates, instead of giving it a back rub after a long day of work, i think it just wants me to appreciate it and remember it's existence. gosh, i love a low maintenance relationship.

love: we're so in it.