Charm Citizen

I was recently inspired by the book “The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature Every Day” by Linda Åkeson McGurk to reconnect with nature and my childhood which was largely shaped by proximity to nature. I was anxious to try a new way of being and the book spoke to me. I had jumped into big changes in my life in the past lie Veganism, giving up alcohol and quitting smoking and I wondered if I could start to become the type of person who lived according to these Nordic principles. One section of the book was dedicated to sleeping outside so I decided to give it a try last night. We live in downtown Baltimore so my only option was to sleep on our rooftop deck. I also have to confess that I was feeling very annoyed and stressed out after a long drive home from a frenzied weekend in Ocean City, MD with my kids and their friends. I was feeling very annoyed with my husband due to his short fuse and judgy attitude around my middle daughter and First night so I didn’t exactly feel like sleeping next to him in our bed. Even my youngest daughter, who is 8, was feeling the need to separate herself from her sisters after the long Labor Day weekend and asked to sleep in the living room.

The weekend full of spending lots of money and eating lots of junk food didn’t serve to relax me or lift my spirits the way I knew a more quiet weekend in nature might have, despite lots of time on the beach.

The weather was hot last night, record breaking for September in fact, but not humid. Insprayed myself in bug spray, laid out the girls’ gymnastics mat, and a sleeping bag in the breezeway area of the deck and tried to get comfortable while also trying to stay out of view from neighbors. I was surprised how breezy it was. In fact, I had to wrap my hair like I had just gotten out of the shower in a towel to keep it from blowing everywhere. The half moon shown very brightly but there were only a handful of stars visible due to the light pollution from the city lights and nearby Port of Baltimore. Only the night before I saw a big meteor flash scross the sky even on the boardwalk in Ocean City in a well-documented phenomenon seen by many across the mid-Atlantic. My exhaustion allowed me to fall asleep relatively quickly but I was awakened frequently by the sounds of rooftop AC units running all night to keep up with the heat, the hum of interstate 95, the screech of nearby freight trains and the sound of their horns. Only in brief moments could I hear the sounds of birds and insects to connect me to nature. I noticed how the moon traveled across the sky from the time I had fallen asleep originally and how Orion started to creep up above the horizon. Wanting to stay outside long enough to see the early signs of morning but realizing the predicament I was in due to lack of sleep, the girls early school bell, and a busy day at work ahead of me, I retreated to my bed around 5:30am for another hour of sleep before my day began. I felt wiser for the experience and new awareness of the outdoor sounds that make sleep difficult but proud of myself for trying something new, I promise to get out there again soon to try again. Had I not had such a frustrating weekend with the kids, or had it not been Labor Day and the feeling of sadness that can accompany the end of summer, I’m not sure I would have gotten out there to sleep under the stars and moon.