Wishing Worldwide

I don't have many pictures of the day I found home thousands miles from where I was born. Merely walking up the path caused a series of emotions within my soul, something that I couldn't fully comprehend. This was my first rain forest. At eight years old, I comprehended the significance that this place would have on the rest of my life. Although all the other tourists, including my parents, chattered noisily, I could not help allowing my mind to fall into the silence of our surroundings. The forest screamed life even when nothing stirred. As we walked, I hung back, separating myself from the crowd, if only to be alone, just for a moment. The group drifted away and my hand reached out to tree enveloped in layers upon layers of age-old wisdom from mother nature herself. I breathed a sigh of relief, allowing the excess of my emotions to depart and fall into the ground below. The silence was now inside my mind as well and I opened my ears to the echoing around me. Bright black eyes glinted from the tops of canopies, curious little hands following in exploration. A toucan called for its' strong beaked mate. Drips of liquid life ran races through crevices and small ants formed piles. Fruits, all shapes and sizes, rotted and grew above, beneath, around. I was as enveloped in nature as a human body could ever be, a limited pass for an intrusive species. My mother called my name, whirling around the corner. And the magic, in all its revealing glory, was gone.