Consider: 5 Things

December 2023 Blog Post

This year, I’m keeping my method of reflection simple. Here are five things that meant something to me in 2023.

Wild berries have always been the most luxurious treat to me. There is nothing better than picking ripe and delicious fruit straight from the bush! This year, I picked mulberries in Wisconsin and put them in my oatmeal. In Minnesota, I picked enough blueberries, juneberries, and raspberries to feast and to freeze. I picked blueberries in New York, too. My mom picked and froze black raspberries for me (which we have always mistakenly called blackberries), and when I visited, we ate them in pancakes.

Zinnias are an unpretentious flower. They are easy to grow. Their petals hold delicious ombré palettes across the whole rainbow. Their many orb-like flower heads make sturdy bouquets that fill up a room. I have loved this flower for a couple years now, and from growing them on my Chicago deck to getting a taste of my friend Daniela’s stunning flower garden, to me, they represent important shifts towards cultivation.

A pumpkinseed is the first little sunnie that I caught upon my adulthood return to fishing. Beyond a longstanding desire to be more integrated with nature, I’ve also been more and more interested in food. I like cooking more, and want to get better at it. I care more about where my food comes from. I like taking steps that bring me closer to these things—like my dad teaching me to filet this sweet little fish so I could eat him for dinner. I also like swimming quite a lot, and fish make me feel close to that.

White pine is one of the trees I learned to identify over the summer. Something I like about getting closer to nature is that there is so much to learn! Plant identification and foraging feel like a wonderland of knowledge just waiting to be uncovered. Plus, trees are just pretty amazing. The air is different with so many of them around me.

A pencil, needle, spatula, and paintbrush—tools—are maybe cheating a little bit when it comes to choosing just five things, but they represent making, which is basically the glue that holds me together. Making across mediums is something I embraced even more fully this year. To me, these things represent balance, joy, creation, and productivity.

If you do any object reflecting this year, I’d love to hear in the comments what things stood out in your mind.