Dear Earth

By Savannah Willison
Reader Contributor

Dear Earth,

I’m writing to you today to express my gratitude toward you. How you’re always changing, adapting, demanding. Thank you for the sunshine, it’s been needed. Thank you for the breeze and rain and mud. You’ve brought the birds and fresh air back, too. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the snow and the cold and cozy we create to combat the ice, but what comes after is your most beautiful creation. There’s still snow in the hills but there are flowers and dirt and grass in the valleys. Your nights are cold but you always warm us back up in the mid-morning sun. 

You always know right when to change, too. Right as we start to feel tired and worn down, we feel you shift. Now we can eat, gather and dance in the daylight. 

Just as you change, we also must change. We go from bundling ourselves in layers to shedding; we cut our hair, clean our homes, swap our skis for bikes and our knee-high boots for trail shoes. 

Thank you for teaching us change. You bloom and breath and flow. Your change signifies life. We watch as fish move up from lakes to streams, as bugs hatch and fly, as your plants bud and grow and bloom. This season marks a season of abundance. Thank you for providing everything we need, I know we take too much from you, but I promise we’ll try harder to give back. 

I grew up loving you, like most other people do. To be honest you raised me in your wild lands. I hiked your trails, climbed your rocks, floated your streams, explored deep into the untouched wilderness of your mountains, looked across your vast deserts, canoed your lakes, and played in the mud and the water and in the rain — sometimes cursing you and your temperamental changes, but always grateful for the adventure and classroom you provided. 

Thank you for being our solace, excitement and reverie. We still have so much more of you to see and explore, and love. Hopefully we can take care of you the way you take care of us.

Happy Earth Day,

— Savannah

Savannah Willison is the programs manager for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness in Sandpoint. Join her on a hike up Scotchman Peak or at a trail work party this summer to share her passion of connecting to our wild backyard.