A beautiful early-morning hike, birds out in profusion and the damp ground alive, popping with mushrooms.

Afterwards, I was at a holiday party for the park volunteers, and someone said that his house (like mine, and so many others’) had burned down in January, and that the people in our organization had really helped him to heal. I had to add that nature itself has been my greatest healer. Just to be able to walk under those massive oak trees, and watch the deer watching me, and see the red-tailed hawk fly so close — the natural world is truly a huge aid to trauma recovery.

So thank you greenery, thank you birdsong, thank you thank you moss and fungi.