Nature’s Humor—If We’re Free to See in the Moment

The season of magnolia blossoms is passing as June closes into July. In the distance, they adorn glossy greenery like handfuls of snow. But for all its beauty, nature can play a joke, as in the time I once passed beneath a stately magnolia and spotted a nest with a tag likely torn from a pillow. It was a laugh-out-loud moment: a bird recycling human trash.

The cycle of magnolia blooms is a reminder of the quick turn of seasons. We tend to recognize it when we slip from youth to middle age and beyond. I don’t want to miss the show, so that’s why I walk without the distraction of text checks or my ears plugged into a podcast or Spotify hit.