The light is beautiful when we wake up. The rays break through the tall red pines, flooding the camp with sunshine for a few moments. The fire crackles. Nicole is browning potatoes for breakfast. Hippo and Jessica are already peeling the veggies for the lunch wraps on the back of a canoe that has been set up as a counter facing the lake.
Cecropia moth
A giant green caterpillar has just adopted Mario while he was loading the canoes. Lysianne shows us the magnificent moth she will become for just a few days, which will be her most beautiful days. For now, she remains on Mario’s knee, posing for the many photographers and interrupting the tidying up of the camp.
“Nature has the power to fill us with wonder,” Mario says, reminding us to “let nature embrace and comfort us during our adventure. It’s a tool for rejuvenation, reflection and meditation that can touch our souls. Let’s use nature to awaken our senses and connect with the elements, because we are part of nature.”
Life as a gift
This leads us to an activity that grounds us in the here and now. Eve Marie invites us to walk in silence, looking for something that speaks to us, and then to share with the others why it does.
KAYLEE shows us “a tree that was about to fall but is supported by two other trees, just as she is still standing thanks to the group.”
CHARLES holds two tender “little wintergreen leaves, sweet and fresh, (just like him!) that grew all by themselves in the middle of nowhere.”
RANIA holds in her hands “tiny little pinecones that you step over without seeing them. The smallest ones are like her; she is learning so much here and continues to grow every day.” Charles adds that pinecones, like the Phoenix, rebuild the forest after a fire.
ALICE tells us about a cute yellow mushroom she pulled up; underneath it, many insects were eating it. A resilience similar to her own, as the mushroom’s mycelium makes it spread and reappear elsewhere.
KAYLA saw a large mushroom, like a pancake, “in the shade of trees and debris. It’s hidden if you don’t pay attention, but it keeps growing even though there’s chaos around it and it’s struggling.”
ROMANE holds a pinecone that reminds her of her home in France, and also of a school activity where she painted a closed pinecone and found it open a week later. It’s like her, because sometimes she’s closed, and sometimes she’s more open, and both are good. Romane becomes our Petite Cocotte (little pinecone)!
CORALIE noticed a very large fir tree protecting the other little ones. It made her want to take care of the others.
MICHAEL spotted three trees of different sizes representing the members of his family: Mama, Papa, Brother, and as he touched them, he saw himself in their midst.
KYLIE, it’s the beach she loves, in Mexico or here: “A grain of sand alone is nothing, but all the grains together make the beach.” Cancer is a part of her, but she’s so much more.
VINCENT brought back a large stump that had been uprooted, but he told us that it “still has a lot of life in it” with tears running down his cheeks.
NICOLE found “a mushroom eaten by a squirrel; it’s part of the ecosystem and feeds it.”
EVE MARIE also found a rather nasty mushroom, but she loves it because it’s so much more than it looks. It’s fascinating that it’s its mycelium that connects with the other plans and communicates with them. It’s the same solidarity in a group, and that’s why she loves to be surrounded by people.
PAUL first shows us “a tree with a broken part (perhaps cancer?) and a part that gives the impression that it is the strongest. He has hopes of doing the same.” Then he shows us the ground full of twigs and draws a parallel with everything around cancer: treatments, research, fundraising, the Foundation, etc.
JESSE tells us about the great old pines that lose their lower branches so that they can feed the rest of the tree and grow towards the light.
CATHERINE cries with emotion when she hears talk about nature. She’s so touched by its beauty and still so amazed by everything that she leaves it to the others, it seems. She adds that she likes to touch and be close to others to nourish her connection and apologizes to the group with a laugh.
MARIO chooses the song of the loon, which “connects him to the purity of nature; this nature that soothes pain, sorrow, suffering.” Quoting a former participant, he urges us “to enjoy every day that we live in such a beautiful environment and to see life as a gift.”
Charles cracks under the pressure and lets his tears flow, apologizing. Eve-Marie reassures him that we don’t apologize for laughing, so why would we apologize for crying?
KAYLA talks to us about water; “water that can boil eggs or soften potatoes,” and compares it to us, who all have our own ways of growing in the same environment.
MARYLOU evokes “a pinecone, soft with a few spikes like the nature she loves.”
JESSICA shows us “a piece of bark where you can see a natural design, or rivers, or even mountains; a bark made of layered pieces like the group, the community.”
JHELISA talks about a fallen tree that seems dead but is still alive, inspiring her with resilience.
JÉRÉMIE is deeply moved to be able to share with this group, to be accepted by them, and to know that the young people are so grateful for his work. Nature has always been a safe space for him, and if his last fifteen years as a guide can allow young people to enjoy this safe space too, it gives true meaning to his work. He’s deeply touched; his words drown in the sobs he’s holding back.
LYSIANNE shows us the sign indicating the toilets where someone had carved letters, which have become meaningful just as we are now engraving each other. It’s also 8 letters, 8 like the symbol of infinity, and an arrow pointing forward.
Amid the gusts, we push our canoes along the lake. Jessica explains all the tree species that line the shore and how to tell them apart: red pine, or white pine, birch or aspen, cedar… then the birds: Blue Jay, Olive-backed Thrush… Hippo gives us his scientific talk about lichen, the only plant that grows on rocks. We learn, we observe. It seems that we love and protect what we know; so let’s keep learning about nature, so generous and benevolent.
Fabienne Macé
On the Tip of the Toes Foundation Blogger and volunteer photographer
Translated by Lorraine Gagnon
In pictures
