The intensity of 2020 inspired me to share some magic. And kindness. And nature. It was a tough day. A tough week. My God, it’s been a tough year.
And then Bozeman’s Random Acts of Silliness & the Gallatin Valley Land Trust created this beautiful fairy house tour on a local trail.
The delight of the kids, the care and creativity of the artists who curated this experience, and the beauty of the outdoors lifted my spirits.
I got choked up.
I thought about Rachel Carson’s book “A Sense of Wonder” and was filled with gratitude for this special community.
Carson said:
“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from our sources of strength.”
Rachel Carson, A Sense of Wonder
The little fairy houses tucked away near the local stream brought me back to the moment.
I even smiled and held my teen daughter’s hand for a brief, fleeting second.
And for the first time in a long while, I felt hope.
Heather White is a nationally-recognized sustainability leader and nonprofit executive, expert on conservation law and policy, and eco-anxiety. She is the President & CEO of Heather White Strategies, LLC and former CEO of Yellowstone Forever, past Executive Director of EWG and Senate staffer. She lives and writes in Bozeman, Montana.