Think about gardening for a second. Going outside, planting new plants of life, hoping that the plant you just placed into the soil will grow big and bear flowers or even food. For this to happen, you would make sure to water the plants, give them enough sunlight, and to use good soil. Knowing this, you do these things because you care about it so much. You hope for it to grow and prosper. You would never want to do anything that would hinder its growth, like using harsh chemicals or giving up taking care of it. One of the biggest ways to care for the plants is by cutting off old dead plants so that the other ones aren’t taken down with it. Healthy plants can’t grow and survive if the plants around them are dying. Seeing gardens that are well taken off show the most vibrant colors of all.  

I have been someone who has gone through periods of low self-esteem. 

I would not say that I am at all perfect, but I have managed to dig myself out of the hole I had succumbed to in the past.  

Flowers teach us 

The ocean is the most unexplored part of the world. Taking up 71 percent of the earth’s surface, only 20 percent has been explored. This leaves 80% of most of our planet unexplored. That means there is much more unknown about our planet than most people think. Leaving this idea that there are creatures and live forms we do not know about, and may never know about. The deepest depth of the ocean is found in the Pacific Ocean and reaches down aout 36,000 ft. This is much farther than anyone has ever imagined going. It is almost impossible for humans to make it to that part of the oceans floor. 

This is typically accomplished in a group as wolves live in packs of anywhere from six to twenty-four members (“Ambush Predator Animals.”). They communicate through calls such as “barks, whines, howls, and growls” and enforce a hierarchical social structure (“Ambush Predator Animals.”). Though usually quite close to each other, there is such a thing as a “lone wolf.” Lone wolves were either forced out of the pack or left the pack to try to form their own. They do not communicate or interact with pack members. 
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*will put story about classmate here*
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In Aesop’s famous fable, a wolf made his way past the watchful eye of shepherds by disguising himself as a sheep. As a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it was able to trick a lamb into following it around and easily led it to its death. The Shepherd eventually found out about the wolf’s identity when he hungered for mutton. He prepared to slaughter a sheep but “the first he laid hands on and killed was the Wolf” (Aesop). What is the moral of this story? “The evil doer often comes to harm through his own deceit” (Aesop). 

 

*BANG* The branch snapped, and my body thumped against the ground. I felt a pain in my arm, and I found out my arm was broken. I had never had a broken bone and in the moment, it felt like the worst thing that could ever happened to me. The first stage in the bone healing process is the reactive phase. The body is working fast to react to the unexpected injury and the area swells up as a quick fix to the issue. The next healing phase is the reparative phase. After the body moves past its initial reaction it begins the long-term healing process where the membrane around your bone begins to bridge the gap between broken bone segments using bone and cartilage cells.

As I entered my bathroom, I turned on the faucet to fill the snow-colored tub. I looked along the counter to find the perfect soap to make my bubble bath the most relaxing. Lemon, tea tree, and coconut all sounded good, but I finally settled on the most relaxing scent, lavender. As I poured the soap into the quarter-filled bathtub, I turned to put the bottle back and found myself looking at a doppelganger. 

I gave her the side-eye, wondering who this person was. I looked at her up and down, thinking about all the things that were wrong with her. Her eyes were not aligned, the left slightly higher than the right. As I started to look down, the body looked like a skeleton had stretched its way into the skin. The ribs poked out like they were trying to reach for some air to breathe. I pushed a big breath out and it turned from a skinny skeleton to a bloated frame of a human.

I turned away from the doppelganger and looked at the tub, the snow-colored tub now is towering over me as if I were standing next to the White Mountains. As I craned my neck, I feel myself backing up and turning into a mouse. I whimper as I become entrapped in a mixture of soap and tears, trying to find the faucet handle to turn this feeling off. I finally turned the faucet before the soap mountain became the next Mount Everest. As I felt the oxygen refilling my lungs, I slowly grabbed a towel and wiped away the anxiety of overfilling the tub. With each wipe, a new affirmation was said: You are strong, You are powerful, You are important. As the tub slowly drained, a sticky substance covering the base screamed out impurities that I chuckled at as I wiped the rest of my anxiety away.
(break as I transition into next part)

Once I completed my cleaning task, I looked out the window to see a butterfly landing on the windowsill. I perked my head as I observed the unknown butterfly. Fiery wings with a soot-colored body came up from the windowsill to the middle of the window, perceiving itself as now a show bird. I was brought back to my second-grade class, where we had a lesson about caterpillars, butterflies and how each has its own beauty. My teacher had always said, 

“Each of you are your own caterpillar. You may feel ugly but once you grow and learn, you become a butterfly, unique and beautiful. Your butterfly may look different from others, but that doesn’t mean you’re any less than the person next to you.”

(will continue talking about how many butterflies there are and how they range in uniqueness, might add something about canvases but I doubt it)

            Parenthood is one of the hardest things you can do in life. No child is the same and there is no book to follow on how to raise them. There is a general outline but with everyone being different It is not always easy. There is many failures for a parent but the joy of raising their child should be enough. This is like playing a sport when you fail try, try again. 

 

 

 

 

         Bees, those pesty little bug like creatures that buzz around you as you try and not let your ice cream melt to the pavement. They swarm you trying to retrieve the sweet substance dripping from your fingers. Bees have no time to play tag with their friends, their childhood consists of developing in a nesting chamber, where they hatch and emerge into their adult form. In their adult form they simply must live in the present. From the time they hatch they have approximately three to eight weeks to gather and feed on nectar and pollen for their hive. For females it can be a little longer while they need to repopulate, building a nest and laying eggs. The longest living bee species is the Queen B and even then, their life only consists of approximately a year. Being present is all the species of bumble bees know how to do. If not present with the task at hand they jeopardize they’re not only their own life but the whole hives. 

 

 

 

         Nature is our worlds medicine. Every day you step out into a place where till this day we find new species weather be alive or extinct. Nature cures, loves, and cares without expecting anything in return. Nature is true in its form, but as you may have noticed it can change with our evolving world. The question is, is it nature changing itself or the actions of others upon it? You can live everyday where time passes you by, flowers die and rebloom, seasons change but nothing comes back the exact same. Everyday people live their lives without stopping to observe their surrounds. What you see today won’t be the same tomorrow, so don’t think to look twice. Nature is not always sunshine and rainbows, natural disasters strike and what once was a landscape of beauty can turn into a pile of rubble. Humans, a species where we seem to think can never go extinct can be whipped away in an instant. When tomorrow rolls around I hope you stop to see what surrounds you cause you might miss something that will not be there tomorrow.