Nature Center Reflection

This past week out at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge felt different. It's not because the work changed, but because I started noticing more. Maybe it’s from going consistently, but the landscape, the routine, and even the people around me all feel more familiar now.

Each time, we head out with ranch loppers to cut back privet, an invasive plant that seems to twist itself into everything around it. In the privet patch, there are also vines that are especially stubborn, lined with thorns that catch your sleeves or scrape your arms if you’re not careful. On Tuesday, I fell down and caught one of those thorns right in my leg. There’s a resistance in both the privet and vines, like they don’t want to be moved, but with enough effort, they give way.

The first two weeks were brutally hot. The kind of heat that drains you faster than you expect, where even lifting the loppers starts to feel heavy. It was tiring work, but there was also something grounding about just focusing on the next branch, the next cut.

What’s made it even better, though, are the people. Working alongside the same group of girls each week, we’ve started talking more, laughing in between cuts, playing small word games and connections. It’s funny how something as simple as clearing brush can bring people closer.

By the end of each day, you can actually see the difference. Areas that felt overgrown and tangled open up, the land pushing back through the mess. Even going just once a week, it’s rewarding to come back and notice the change.