7. My Backyard, Sparta, NJ

November 19, 2023

Home sweet home. Sparta, New Jersey. I returned home for a few days during Thanksgiving break to see my family. I love being home. We live in a protected wildlife area with thousands of acres of untouched forest. My family owns about three acres of that land, with most of it being forest. My dad and I love going out and walking through the forest together. It was chilly outside, around 45 degrees, just cold enough that you could see your breath in front of your face. Most of the leaves have fallen by now, the peak of turning leaves having passed weeks ago. The now dead brown crunchy leaves cover the forest floor concealing any grass, dirt, or rocks. They crunch beneath your feet and you walk through our land. Some leaves still remain, some brightly colored red and the others a light brown looking as if they could fall at any moment now. It's quiet at home, all the land behind mine untouched and devoid of human life. Deer run through the trees, the only sound they make the snapping of twigs or crunching of leaves beneath their hooves. Bushy-tailed squirrels run through the leaves and up the trunks of trees stirring up a ruckus of noise. As I trek through my backyard forest, boulders larger than most humans dot the ground and have to be maneuvered around. Some trees are torn up from the roots and have fallen on their sides. A powerful hurricane almost ten years ago tore our 60+ foot tall trees up by the roots and knocked them on their sides as if they were made of straw. The fallen trees that haven't been cut up for firewood, still remain on their sides as if the storm happened only mere months ago. I can get lost in these woods, there's so much to explore. I wander mindlessly through the trees, past a light stream of water that leads to a nearby lake, wrapped in my puffer coat. I feel so comfortable here, I've wandered these woods for years, and something about it makes me feel so at peace and calm. It's an escape from the world like no other. It's home. Whenever I come home I just have to go walking through the woods, stare out at the trees, and breathe in the forest air. Despite the cold, I could stay out there for hours. It's always an adventure out in those woods, and you never know what you're gonna find. Whenever I think of home, I don't think of the main street of my town, the schools I went to, or even the house I grew up in. I think of all the trees, so closely packed together that when the leaves are on the trees in summer it blocks most of the sunlight from hitting the forest floor. I think of the large boulders and rocks that are abundant in every direction. I think of the quiet that comes from the forest. The deer and the turkeys that run through the streets and the trees. Something about the woods here just can't compare to anything in Texas, and I often miss it greatly when I'm at school living in the city.