Terry Grant

My turn to choose the prompt. I had several ideas, but kept coming back to things that make my community so special to me. It is a suburb of a large city and it all feels like my home–the suburbs, the countryside and the city itself and when I close my eyes and think of Portland and of Beaverton I see green. I see rivers and creeks and wetlands. I see trees and flowers, birds and animals. I see the country as it was in the beginning, preserved in swaths running alongside and through the manmade environment of homes and roads and buildings. We value this here in our community. I value this in my life.

Nearly 15 years ago, soon after I retired from my day job, my friend, Beth, and I started walking together most mornings on one of the many trails through our neighborhood. We are still walking.

When I moved further west, we followed the trail west to Greenway Park for our walks. Our city is Beaverton, named, of course, for the animal that was so prolific in the early days in this area. When we started walking the park was trails and lawn, with a small manmade lake and a creek. Several years ago the parks department decided to allow the beavers to have their way with the creek and stopped clearing their dams from the creek. In the years since, more and more of the park has reverted to wetland, thanks to the beavers. It is a wild and beautiful space, home to many birds. This is where our old walking trail disappears into the wetland today.

Our walk has taken on new meaning as we watch the landscape change with the seasons and wait for the geese, the ducks, the herons and egrets, to appear. The bird sounds, the breeze across the water, the reflection of clouds and sky change constantly. Each season has its charm. Even the still, soft edges and misty chill of winter is filled with beauty and a sense of peace.

Now, as we wait out this pandemic and stay close to home our less frequent walks hold special joy for me. As crazy and disrupted as our lives are, the wetland reminds me that the cycle goes on. The birds come and go, the seasons change on schedule, the earth turns and follows its natural course and its beauty and peace ground me and comfort me.

We’ll be OK.

The Wetlands
24″ x 40″