Teale/E.B. White Response

I started reading the first line to the Teale selection, and immediately after I read "...through a snow-filled landscape and under the sullen gray of a December sky." the first thing that came to mind was Hmmm, sounds like an Indiana winter to me. So funny to read in the next sentence that that was where he was! I really enjoyed this reading - it made me recall a couple of my most vivid memories from the past, most of which have taken place outdoors in nature. The one memory, from when I was 14 and living in Ecuador, is of a trip I took with a groups from school into the Amazon jungle for a week. The moment I play back all the time in my head is that I am sitting at the front of this canoe. There is a motor on that back being driven by an Ecuadorian. We are zipping through the calm warm water of some river far, far away from my reality. I remember the feeling of the wind hitting my face, watching the trees and vines get lost as we flew over the winding waters. I remember thinking to myself - I am the happiest I have ever been in my life, and perhaps will never feel this way again. I recently took a trip back to Ecuador. I thought about getting back on that canoe, flying down that winding river so far from home, and then, i just couldn't! I didn't want that memory to end. To have this new one replace the old, beautiful, one. What if it wasn't as amazing as i had recalled, as a young, confused 9th grade girl? I want to keep that memory safe.

E.B. White is a great writer. And really, how can you not read this selection and want to pick up Walden one last time and give it a try? I sure do.