Par Avion: Tree Hugger

Ooh ~ a lovely package in the mail! Excitement rained upon me today when I received my much anticipated and longtime “Etsy-favorited” item, the Belle & Boo “Tree Hugger” print, featuring a little girl hugging a tree and a deer off in the background looking on so peacefully.

Receiving this fabulous print brings to mind a recent, most amazing event that I will surely never forget. Last Saturday, mid-morning, as I was preparing some strawberry pancakes, Hubby and I witnessed a very precious sight. Looking out our kitchen window, I noticed that a deer was lying down in the tall grass in the small patch of woods that separates our house from our neighbors. It’s not at all unusual to see deer in our yard or woods, but something about this deer struck me as odd. Looking a bit more closely and then breaking out the binocs, I realized that there was the tiniest baby deer covered in white spots standing next to the deer lying down. Soon after, I noticed a second baby deer with them too! We watched them quietly, sticking our heads out the back screen door, careful not to alarm the mama deer and her babies. It was clear to me that these deer were very newly born, but just how new I wasn’t sure.

After much “oohing” and “ahhing” over the sight of watching the mama deer care for her fawns, occasionally licking them clean or nursing them, watching the mama lay back down, and the babies gently touching noses with their new mama’s nose, I felt like I was almost intruding on such a precious, sweet moment. The fawns were so tiny and were walking about a bit on unsteady legs, but never going more than a few feet from their very tired, resting mama.

A little bit later, I called our next-door neighbors to see if they were witnessing this same amazing sight. I discovered from Mrs. Neighbor that she had indeed witnessed even the moment of birth just a few hours earlier. I asked her if this was a common occurrence, being that this is our first Spring in our new home here, and she said this was a first for her. Normally deer go deeper into the woods to give birth and perhaps it is not a good sign that they are getting too comfortable around humans. But on this perfectly warm mid-morning, as the sun was brightly shining, the sky was blue, the birds were singing, and new green leaves dressed the trees and filtered rays of sunlight into our woods on this precious new family, for just a little while, all seemed at peace and right in the world.

{The deer are in there somewhere, do you see?}


This print also strike a chord with me as well perhaps because well…I love trees, sun, flowers, green grass, forests, rivers, rocks, shells, lakes, beaches, creatures great & small, etc, etc…so I guess that might make me a “tree hugger”…I guess…there…I said it…I’m a tree hugger. But who doesn’t love those things or at least most of those things? They are a part of our world, the foundation for where we live. I’m certainly not the often stereotyped “Birkenstock-wearing, granola-eating” kind of tree hugger. Well, I guess I do like granola. I’m actually quite addicted to Target’s Archer Farms brand of French Vanilla Almond Granola right now and I nearly freak out when they are so very often out of it at my Target…it seems many others have caught on to this addiction too.

But that’s beside the point. I’m not sure what the exact definition of a “tree hugger” is, but perhaps I’ve been one my whole life. Some people often think of a “tree hugger” as being a bad thing…a far out, wacky sort of nut-job kind of person who only cares about the earth. But why does caring for the earth, appreciating creation & nature, have to be in conflict with the notion of caring for humans and other such important values? Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t it be both and all things? Why shouldn’t we want to recycle or not litter or do other common sense things that won’t hurt our environment, in addition to caring about people too?

So there you go…now you know some of my “tree hugger-ish” thoughts & frustrations. I’m a basically normal person (I think!) who enjoys great food, breaking the bank at Anthropologie, and other such materialistic pursuits…but I also love a good hike through the woods, and my heart hurts just a bit when I see the so-called “progress” of clearing acres of land of big, tall beautiful trees to make room for more town homes or such. I know people need homes too! So okay, I’m in conflict about this, just a little. I’m going to go stare at my new, peaceful, forest-filled “Belle & Boo” print now! Ta ta!