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COUNTRY LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI

Nature's Beauty

By Nathonia SmithPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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SURROUNDED BY NATURE IN IT'S GREENEST FORM

Back To Where It All Started....Country Living

There was a time when I thought of home that images of cobblestone homes, crowds of people and hundreds of vehicles driving by throughout Chicago would come to mind. I was born there and would never see anywhere else as my home. But, most of my life has been spent in one of Mississippi's country towns in the Franklin County area. Since age 10 I have been a resident of Mississippi and all of its southern charm.

At my age, I may as well admit that life in the country has its ups, as well as downs. It hasn't always been easy for me to appreciate the advantages of living in a less populated area, like the area in which I was raised. The silence alonse was a huge transition for me when my family and I first relocated to the south. So many nights I would lie awake longing for the sound, or sounds of something other than crickets whose locations where always unknown. As a child I would curously search for the source of the cricket sounds. Because the community is filled with so much greenery it's easy for crickets, insects, snakes, and other outside critters to hide themselves among the bushes.

As I became accustomed to country living, I started to appreciate my natural surroundings, especially the tall green trees. I never realized there were so many different kinds of trees, as a child. "If you've seen one tree, you've pretty much seen them all." was my belief. But, nothing could've been farther from the truth. And, all it took was for me to pay attention to the trees that I came acroos. I assumed that all trees were tall with gray or brownish bark growing from the roots. As a chld, I was a tomboy who hiked up and down the hills and swampy trails that surrounded my parents' home. I didn't care that poisonous snakes could be slittering through the high bushes while I was playing. To me, hiding among bushes that were taller than me was fun since noone could see me. It soon became obvous to me that I would be living in the country until I became old enough to change my living siuation. So I was making the best out of an "unwanted" situation.

Of course there were times when rainy weather kept me inside looking outside through the window. Or, I would sit quietly on the porch looking out at that specific area of my parents' property that reminded me of a swamp area. For as long as I can remember, that green, bushy area sits under a hill directly across the road from the home in which I was raised. The bushes and trees become filled with dark green leaves during the warm months of the year. Amazingly, during the cold months of the year, specifically after the Autumn season starts, that same area across the road is bare with naked trees and vines. When I stand at the edge of the road across from my parents' home during the cold months, I can see the depth is probably eight feet. It's interesting knowing that everything in nature changes throughout the year, every living being that is. Like human beings, all beings that require oxygen to substain its existence, experience some form of yearly changes. Humans, as well as animals, transition from one stage of life to the next. Plants experience changes in sizes and vibrance of color during their seasons. Although trees remain standing tall throughout the year, their leaves change from green to brown before falling to the ground during the cool months. And, as the warm season begins agiain, fresh new green leaves soon cover the limbs of all those trees still standing! I see and appreciate nature's green in all of its forms, unbothered and never touched.

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About the Creator

Nathonia Smith

I am a wife, mother, grandmother, inventor and online published writer who recently completed studies at Ashford University earning a Bachelors Degree in Human Resource Management. Writing has always given me such joy and fulfillment.

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