Some of the most peaceful times in my life have been spent outdoors. I'm not an avid adventurist or obsessed with taking long walks on the beach. I'm an average girl, who spends just as much time lying in her bed texting as she does scaling mountains. However, I have never been one to underestimate the beauty and serenity a person can find within themselves when they take a chance to be a part of the natural world. The love and appreciation I have for all things simple and pure came from my father and mother. Since I was a child I have slept in beds draped in cotton sheets, I have lived in modest and comfortable homes furnished with worn wood furniture and down pillows. I have listened to artists idolize an average life filled with extraordinary events. I have been taught to vaue things like family and friendship above all else. And I have been taken on so many camping trips its impossible to count. Since I was a child, my parents have emphasized living one with nature, simplictiy, and love in all aspects of my life. However, it was in planning our family vacation around the next part of the country we wanted to camp in that I fell in love with the great outdoors and with spending time with my family. It was in these moments, living in nature, that I truly considered myself happy. I can remember camping on the Husatonic River as a child, sitting on my father's lap as our raft floated lazily through the forest. I would laugh at the fish in the water as he let me lean close enough over the edge to dip the tip of my nose in while he held onto my life vest. I can remember huddling around a fire when the night swooped in around the campsite but no one wanted to sleep quite yet. I can remember taking long walks on paths that wound their way across mountain tops and along the cliffs overlooking the ocean with the first boy I ever loved. I can remember scrubbing dirty dishes in a basin side by side with my sister, spashing each other and putting soap in our hair. I can remember holding my brothers hand as we jumped from rocks overlooking the great pools of water that gathered below us. In these moments, living purely and simply in nature, I developed my favorite memories. It was when I pulled myself away from schoolwork, sports, television, and my computer, that I truly appreciated the company I was keeping and the world around me.
