Perfect

Sun shines through a hole in the layer of pine trees lining a mountain side. Pine needles fall to the ground as a gentle wind runs throughout the forest. My hair, long and damp, becomes tangled by the breeze. In this place I feel untouchable, no one can judge me. The stream is ever changing but always the same; it brings me back to who I am.

An old, abandoned beaver dam, once new when I was young, reminds me of the past and how much I have grown. It also brings me back to my childhood; I can imagine when it was fresh, new, and inhabited. I used to think the mountains of Colorado were just a place we drove to every summer. As I grow in my wisdom, I’ve learned to appreciate the simplicity of the mountains. A stream running from a big lake high on the mountain splits into two parts around my island. I see this as a decision the water makes. There is a fork in the road. The water decides its future by one decision. One of the brooks made from the split runs into a dam and pools there. The other continues flowing effortlessly past the island.

There is an island in the middle of the cold stream that can only be reached by hopping from the bank, to a sturdy log, and wading a bit in the water. This island is special. It has baby blue and light pink bluebell flowers growing on it. Looking up at the sky, I see a circle of pine trees opening up to the clear, blue sky. The Rufus Hummingbirds and Golden Eagles cry out, their voices carried by the wind in the trees. The trickling of the brook through the aged beaver dam lulls me into a peaceful state of mind. My soaked, freezing jeans are rolled up to my knees; the arms of my hoodie are pulled down over my hands. Nature is beautifully asymmetrical. It is content with not being perfect; I admire nature for that. It makes me believe that I can be perfect in my own way without being flawless.

In the words of Henry David Thoreau: “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” I am by myself secluded from the main part of the river. I can hear my siblings playing in the main river, through the trees. I know my parents are watching me, making sure I am safe, yet they give me my space to be myself.

Away from the hustle and bustle of society, 10,000 feet above sea level, nestled in a valley along the Rocky Mountain range, there is a place of unequaled comfort. A place where innocence returns and a feeling of trust appears. As the sun warms my body in the crisp mountain air, the flowing current propels my worries away.

1st Place Winner, Avery Dwyer, High School Division