Tap tap tap. I hear these few sounds from the gate in Guilford Woods that refuses to be anything but silent. I closed the gate to preserve my sanity. The gate is something that was man made, set there for a reason; my preassumption is so students won’t drive their cars through the woods. I love nature though because it’s so silent. Whenever I am able to really indulge in my place, I start to think “I haven’t heard silience quite this loud.” Silience is something I am all to fimilar with.
Connecting with my place is something that is vital in order to become one with nature. I do this by reflecting on my past struggles and finding strength within myself to speak on it. The silience of my place makes me think back to my childhood. Due to a rare speech disorder, I struggle with getting words out. I know what I want to say, however, my brain has trouble sending signals to my tongue to pronounce words. I really picked up on talking the best I can so far in my life whenever I was thirteen. Beforehand, silience was what I had known. Kids would try to talk to me and although I knew what I wanted to say, nothing would come out. I was silent. Hearing the silience in my place makes me reconnect with my childhood self. A part of me believes if it wasn’t for my other complex health issues, maybe he would of found comfort in the silience. However, in this moment, I believe he loves it.
