During the summer of 2016, I received an assistantship to help with research about water conservation. I was happy to stay working at the university. Around that time my advisor had shared with me a contact name of a medical doctor who was also a practicing landscape architect in the state of Michigan. I wrote to her asking if I could shadow her research on therapeutic garden design. She gave me a better offer. On her email, she asked, “would you be interested to help in the design for a hospice therapeutic garden in Marquette, MI?” I went on to respond that it would be a great opportunity and accepted her invitation right away.
Up to the conclusion of the semester in the spring, my dissertation research had been on mental illness. Unfortunately the topic was so broad that I was struggling to narrow it to one mental illness. The year before, a few friends had suffered with seasonal depression so I chose to study the benefits of nature to battle depression. The hospice project was going to be the perfect opportunity to elaborate both research and design methods for patients and caregivers suffering with depression!
On August of 2016, I arrived at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. I fell in love with the area. The turquoise water, the cherry farms, the hilly roads, and fantastic views were beautiful and full of life. Dr. Westphal picked me up, and brought me to a French restaurant to eat crepes. Later, she drove me around the city and finally to my new home for the next 19 days. We turned into a long dirt road ‘Blue Water Road’, drove through the cherry farms and tall grasses, and pulling up to park, we arrived at one of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever lived in. “We got it for free and have remodeled it,” Dr. Westphal explained. A friend phoned us knowing that we had moved a house before. We decided to take it and brought it here. They had turned it into a two story trailer home. “You’ll be staying here, you’re welcome to join us for dinner tonight,” she handed me the keys to the house and also to a Prius. Dr. Westphal’s house is located in the highest point of Traverse City, very close to where I was staying.
That summer I lived heavenly! It was a very beautiful experience. I had the time of my life with the best schedule. I did a lot of reading, drawing, cooking, cleaning, hiking, and plenty of swimming. I also got to jump off of a cliff for the first time, it only took me 45 min? I witnessed my advisor gracefully jump and show me how to get it done. She said, “this is how you do it” and jumped – straight in she went, into Lake Superior’s fresh water. We drove up from Traverse City to Marquette ‘the project site’ twice. We stayed at her friend’s cabin. A beautiful cabin. My mind was so in tune with the area, my imagination just burst, and joy really filled my heart.
So much happened in those 19 days. I met Norma, a wonderful lady from church, whose husband had built a round house. It literally looked like half of a giant white ball sunk on the ground. It was cute, she became my best friend at church, we even performed together, she played the piano very well but never wanted to do it in public. She also enjoyed poetry, and we exchanged a few of our poems with each other. She said, “Melody, friends come and go, you will have friends for a lifetime, you may have some for a few months, and there will even be the one friend that you get for a day, a few hours, it’s a part of life.” This is the hardest thing for me to grasp, I love having friends, the closest ones who you can talk about anything and laugh even when neither is funny, but just out of the joy we bring to each other. Life is too short to let those friends go, but we have to… let our love go in their hearts.
Back to the trailer – I loved the little house! Every morning my view were trees. In one occasion, there were three pileated woodpeckers eating away, they were so beautiful, magnificent. Every morning, I would go for a walk around the cherry farms and soak in the beauty. I worked researching and designing back to back. I would drive to the tip of the peninsula, swim, read some more, and then stop by the grocery store to make a warm meal. A taste of life, a taste of heaven, a taste of God’s love toward us. That was my experience, living on my own for the first time.
We humans really aren’t in need of much aside from God’s love. Everything lines up when we give him control. We may not live in vacation land, but we do have the choice to be happy, to live and love freely. Unfortunately, the world has a monetary system engraved in our minds. We work to live and vice versa. Shelter and food will one day be equal for all, not in our time but in God’s time. I’m a very passionate person but I have to remember to be patient and to trust in God’s time. We don’t stop working but we work trusting in the best for everyone, and believing this way we work harder, happier, and representing God’s image to others.
Let God’s love flow from you, you will be rejected, but don’t be discouraged, we give love without expecting anything in return. Wherever place has marked your heart – don’t stop dreaming about it. Live it out, share this place with others. Go back – maybe – and make new memories, there or somewhere else. Make love happen in your heart and before the eyes of God. Jesus said, freely you have receive, freely give. Live today as if it where the last day of your life!
May you cherish the opportunity to live, praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Tapia 