Think back to March and the beginning of the pandemic when much of the country was under stay-at-home orders. In a flash, our busy lives and our kids’ crazy schedules came to a standstill and we were all home together. Remember that first week or two and how your family spent their time. Did you cook a meal together instead of eating fast food or heading to a restaurant? Did you take a walk or hike together instead of shuttling your kids to sports practice and yelling at them for being late? Did you build a puzzle together or play cards and laugh as a family? Most families reported doing one of more of these activities while staying at home and commented on how they enjoyed the simplicity of the time spent together and the wonderful feeling of being outdoors in nature. I am sure many of us had fond memories of the times we spent outdoors as children and recalled those memories in talks with our kids during that time. We talked about the lovely benefits of just slowing down and enjoying the moments in nature.
And now, in September 2020, while still in the midst of a pandemic, we’ve largely resumed our lives, busy schedules and all. We’ve altered the way in which our activities are done, in effect learning to live with a pandemic, but mostly resuming the busy pace we had in 2019.

But let’s not lose that simplicity we loved from the early phase of the pandemic. Let’s commit to making those moments happen again from time to time. Let’s get out into nature with our families and collect moments not things. Let’s take trips that immerse us in nature and allow our family that special time to reconnect with the simple surroundings of the wildlife, the trees and the mountains and soak in the beauty of a changing season as summer rolls into fall and the trees remind us that life is moving ahead.
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