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My Discovery of a Peaceful Life

Living so close to my roots.

By Claudia RodriguezPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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From my Walk in a Forest

Finally moved in, it took a whole village to get me relocated to the most remote place I could think of, only to be closer to my ancestors, the sky, and the land that saw my great-grandparents grow. My family helped me build a home in a 1000 acre lot that my grandparents left us, my siblings decided they did not want it, and passed it all to me, it was a remote forest and in the middle, I built a cabin, the process took 6 months, from ground break to placing the final touches on the coffee table. My father added a security system, my mom a very big pantry, and my siblings a satellite dish half a mile away to ensure that I would have a way to communicate with them. I was so secluded that my closest neighbor was about 25 miles away, and that neighbor was my grand uncle, this land has been in the family forever, the ranch that my grand uncle owned was the main source of income for the whole family, and as the family continued to grow so did the business, coffee and cattle two things that seven generations had worked on and of course the forest the one reason to keep this land was to make sure that just like we received from it, we would give back to it. Here we had it all; water, trees, animal life and open skies.

Here the plan was to use my time to find my inspiration for the next book as well as the study of the stars in relation to our culture, My grand-mother always spoke of how our family was tied to the earth and to our ancestors, you must give back always she would say, you must remember where you came from, she carried the tales of our fore-fathers and made sure we all learned about it. She wrote it all down, and in the past ten years I had begun writing her biography and really the story of all of us, how we got here, who we are, and why we belong here. Our native roots could be traced back to a mayan village that had lived in the area, they had built their homes by the river, and grew crops that they shared with the other villagers. By the time my great-grandparents came along only 10 families remained and they all had given their blessing to make my family the the village elders, to this day those same ten families live in the area at the foot of the volcano near the big river, they have spread out to make sure that the land remains protected and cared for by those same villagers whom it welcomed so many years ago.

As the sun began to set I too made my way into the house, to have some dinner and to rest to begin my research the next day, it was the most beautiful evening I have ever had, the birds singing as they said good night, the owls letting me know I was not alone, and in the distance a coyote yelped, and from miles away a heard a horn whistle my relatives and neighbors letting each other know everyone was home safe for the night.

I settled in and sent out my signal a single light into the sky, I was home safe.

The next morning I woke up to the first sunrise ever, it was a crisp morning,

I made my cup of coffee and walked out to the front porch, as I looked up into the sky the crowns of the trees swayed in the breeze saying good morning. And in the distance the river swished as it passed by between the endless forest making its way into town. Some 30 miles away.

I went for a walk setting up to explore the forest, and the places where it would be ok to plant more trees, near the cabin I had set up a patch whhere I would grow a garden, and on the backside of the cabin dad had placed a barn, in hopes that I would bring a horse or two, mom thought chickens would be better. I said that maybe in time, right now I was not ready for it.

Before I knew it was lunchtime and my walk had taken me to the river where I had spent most of the morning, on my walk I found rocks and pinecones I brought back a few and made a mental note to carry a backpack next time out. The afternoon went by quickly, and I had spent it setting up my new desk near the window. My lights were all from a solar panel dad had installed but that I chose to use only if I stayed up late, which I thought might not be good if I wanted to b able to enjoy the sunrise every day. I made my way to my room after the signal had been sent. The light I sent up to the sky was a soft pink that could be seen for about

20 miles in any direction.

Two weeks later I woke up and it was pitch black outside, but I knew I had heard something, I got up and grabbed my phone, turned on the light and looked around, everything was locked. I went back to bed, and as I settled in out through my window there it was a green orb, moving slowly across the dark forest, here in front of me, I finally caught a glimpse of the protectors my grandmother talks about in her book, they live near us keeping watch of those who have sworn in oath to protect the land of our people. It was then that I understood what she said to us all the time. It is a sacred moment when they let us in and accept us outsiders as we come back to be with them. Their spirits came to welcome me, and every night I had no need for light because they were there to show me the way. As of today I have found that the people of the land are alive and well in the forests where we the city people can’t hurt them, they are the trees, the flowers, and the birds in the sky.

Nature
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About the Creator

Claudia Rodriguez

I am a nature loving person who finds the indoors quite suffocating after a while, I find inspiration in the beauty of a mountain, the flight of a bird or the soft swaying of a flower in the wind.

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