Earth Day can be everyday.

Today is Pete and I's 6th anniversary. To me, it will always be Earth Day first and foremost though we try to do a bit for the earth everyday around the house.
This AM, the boys and I went to Woodend Nature Sanctuary (where Owen also goes to school) to pull a whole lot of garlic mustard.

We try to help Ms Liz (the volunteer coordinator at Woodend) at least twice a month with varied groundskeeping tasks around the sanctuary. The boys love picking up sticks, trash, pulling weeds and it's a really fun way for them to be more involved in the upkeep of what they think of as the "school grounds". They both know the trails well from walking them frequently with me or the Audubon Nature Preschool teachers and from the Lil' Sprouts program Ty and I do a couple of times a month. I love volunteering almost as much as they do and it's a great way for me to give back and enjoy the sanctuary as well.

We came home for a quick little lunch and took off for Brookside Nature Center where we participated in an Arbor Day Tree Walk in the pouring rain. The smells and the sounds of the forest in the rain are just fabulous.

Tonight, Pete is taking us to Azucar to celebrate our anniversary. Needless to say that our Earth Day will have been a successful one. I have a feeling that Earth Day will continue to take on more of an altruistic meaning as the boys grow older.

I believe that as a parent, I can and NEED to open my children's eyes to the world. A large part of that world discovery obviously falls back on things that I enjoy learning about and that bring me a great amount of joy. Spending time in nature, observing, listening and using all of my other senses to absorb it all in is one of my favorite things to do. I also truly enjoy helping others and always have. It seems that volunteering at Woodend and Brookside Nature Center on a regular basis has been very fulfilling for me.

I hope that by exposing the boys to a few (mostly) selfless activities, environmentally conscious projects, volunteer job etc... I am planting a little seed.

Maybe, when they need to "collect" community hours, it won't feel like yet another chore they need to tend to.
Maybe, when their time comes to select activities on their own they will have a strong desire to be involved in their community, make their world a better place to live and be assertive about it.
Maybe, the little seed I am planting will mature into a strong tree with solid roots whose branches reach and touch other trees and make a perfect forest canopy ... maybe, just maybe

Oh, right ... and it's also my anniversary :)