12.27.13
Welcoming Winter
Standing with my sons and sister on the southern shore of
the East Coast, footsteps away from the busy Hollywood Broadwalk, one of those
special moments emerges as we watch white, foamy waves fold over the slowly
shifting sand. Wind swirls our thoughts
all around as we marvel at Peruvian planting star constellations rising from the dark expanse of ocean. Even here, in the center of this urban
vacation destination, the timeless cycles of Earth’s natural ecology remind us
how to live.
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(photo courtesy my sister, Adrienne Chadwick
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Every step in our journey is a movement toward remembering.
Allow me to introduce myself. Bawshkeengwabigun indizhinikawz.
I am what you could call, a returning snowbird… born on the north shores of Lake Ontario, to
a mother from Belize on the Western edge of the Carribbean Sea and a father
from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I’ve
lived in Florida before, a few times… but my migration is on a longer cycle
than our annual orbit around the sun…
My life path seems to take me to all the places where I have
learning and work to do… Toronto (birthland), to Florida (home), back to
Toronto, to Belize (homeland), Wisconsin, Minnesota (edge of birthland
bioregion) and finally back here to Florida once again. I love retracing the
paths that our ancestors took, crisscrossing this northern central region of
our continent (although, I have learned that geography is always relative – in
relation to the perspective of who is perceiving it… my friend Lucy Idlout from
Iqaluit, Nunavut always refers to Toronto as “the South”… with all its
foreign flora, fauna, and her favorite – insects… always wonder what Lucy
would think of the Amazon…)
Welcoming in Winter here in South Florida – Zone 10 or 11
according to the USDA, with less than 5 days per year below 45 degrees, and
none below 30 – was a strangely wonderful experience… one that will continue to
encourage and remind me to watch, listen and participate fully in this exciting
time during the history of our Earth….
Every step in our journey is a movement toward remembering.
I am excited about returning home here to “the Greater Everglades bioregion”, curious about
the learning I have ahead of me and wondering, of the things I love to do, what
will I get to share with my family, friends and neighbors here…
wild food harvesting… camping… community organizing… dancing…?
With active patience… we shall see … watch, and listen, and
work… and we shall see….
@wabigun
www.facebook.com/tara.chadwick.391
