Every year growing up, we’d get a little tree on Earth Day in school. It was just a mere little sapling (if that), and every year my dad would take the little tree and plant it somewhere on the property of my childhood house.

It was magical. Even to me as a child, that the little branch would perhaps grow into a tall and mighty maple one day.

Earth Day is still magical to me.

Simply because our planet is magical.

I feel that magic when staring out at an ocean to which the depths are still largely unknown.

Or when I’m on a mountain and feel-for the briefest of seconds-on the cusp of heaven.

It was there when I came upon a field of bluebonnets in Texas in full bloom and felt my breath taken away for a second. And it was there when I stood amongst millions of tulips in the Netherlands in true awe.

I sense every year it when I first smell that sweet smell of lilacs in the springtime and again when that oh-so-delicious smell of leaves comes in the autumn.

I imagined it when I stood there staring out a Grand Canyon and not able to form words, and when I stood on the top of the Swiss Alps staring out at a whole new perspective.

The bluest of skies to the thrill of a summer thunderstorm, the wonder of the first snowfall in the winter to the miracle of seeing a rainbow… it’s present there, too.

The innocent sounds of birdsong come springtime.

The artistry of the leaves changing in autumn.

The beauty of a sunrise and a sunset.

All of it sparks a state of magic.

I feel immense gratitude that my body and soul choose this place to call home-simply because I can’t picture a more beautiful place to be.

Thank you, Mama Earth. Happy Earth Day.

Blog Post Featured Image by Damiano Baschiera on Unsplash