This is me at Lovitt's Point, a half-acre park at the edge of the Scarborough Bluffs donated by Mr. and Mrs. Lovitt after their 1940's post-WWII home "went over." I had no idea these trees were so little back then. The Point, as it came to be known, was my forest, my solace, my destination. This was the wilderness I could access on my own, even when as a youngling, my freedom to wander was limited. The Point was my static datum point from which I observed the changes and cycles of nature. It was the place from which I developed and processed my ever-changing self-realization. It remains the place to which I am forever connected as the geographic point on the surface of our Mother Earth from which my own mother opened her doorway of life for the first time, and allowed me a safe passage here to the realm of the living.
It was here that I watched the moon rise and set. Here that I witnessed the monarchs roost. And here that I learned I could climb whatever mountain I choose with careful planning, balance and strategy. The black-eyed susans and milkweed flowers that filled the summer fields with sweetness and beauty are some of the very same species that belong here, at this very southern most tip of our North Eastern seabord. Not surprising since our bird relatives make their way back and forth along their natural fly ways. I do miss seeing those beautiful warrior hummers and that field full of honey-scented milkweed, buzzing with bees and red with lady bugs by day; dotted with fireflies by night.
This week, though, we saw the bald eagle again, fishing at the restored Miramar Pinelands Lake. Now this is my forest. My wilderness. My place to walk and process and plan the next phases of my life. This beautifully restored ecosystem, billions of years in the making, so I could walk through and introduce my little one to his first memorable glimpse of our country's emblem and protector.
Seasons and cycles are ever changing, but some things will always remain.
