#18: Go for a Nature Walk

My chemotherapy treatments started on September 1st, the unofficial first day of fall. Fall is my favourite time of year because the colours of the trees and the crispness in the air makes walking the perfect outdoor activity. The only problem is, it's usually the last thing I want to do with my weekend.

My older sister, at 8 months pregnant, and I made a point of going for Nature Walks after my treatments started. I remember one walk in particular in Lowville Park, when the hot Indian Summer sun warmed the forest's damp air, and the leaves on the trees were beginning their transformation to fiery and bright. The walk itself was brief, but the experience was both memorable and therapeutic. Listening to the leaves crunching underfoot, the water lapping against the rocks in the creek below and feeling the sunlight stream through the thinning trees above reminded me that change and regrowth is natural. The methodical course the environment around us takes forced me to accept what my own body was capable of.

So yesterday, during an unanticipated day off, I went for my first post-treatment Nature Walk. Though winter's effects lingered in the dull colours at the Scarborough Bluffs, the sun shone warmly enough to remind me of spring's imminent return. I brought my camera (another essential component to a Nature Walk), and spent hours taking in the green water, the tall (for Toronto) cliffs and the quacking ducks.

My treatments may be over, but the healing process has only just begun. And yesterday's Nature Walk was a welcome reminder that 'Nothing is certain, only the certain spring'. (Binyon)