From the time I was around three to the time I was seventeen I lived in a small two bedroom apartment with my parents on the edge of Dallas.  We did not have a even have a pool, but we had something far better:  all three of our windows (the living room, my bedroom, and my folks’ bedroom) faced an enormous, undeveloped field.  The wildflowers grew taller than I:  there were Queen Anne’s Lace, sunflowers, “Indian blankets,” and Black-Eyed Susans that I could identify.  I have countless fond memories of watching the voluminous tall stems dip and sway in the wind.  It was the ’70’s:  the last of an era where kids could run wild.  When I was little I rode FAR on my Big Wheel which I loved more than anything.  As I became older I rode my bike.  Every night I would pick a small bouquet of wildflowers for Mama to put on the table.  She cooked everything from scratch and I was to be in by the time Daddy got home.  I never realized what a tremendous blessing I had in that field.  There were no houses, no lights, no wires … just unmown flowers as far as the eye could see.  My dream was to get married, be a mother, and have a house on a creek bank not far from where I grew up.  God was gracious and my husband was able to buy our house when we got married.  It sits on a hill and just opposite it are miles of greenbelt with tall trees rising up from the creek beds.  It is one of the only places in Dallas where one may still encounter something natural.  By that I mean no concrete, no “helpful” stone erosion barriers, and no professional landscaping.  I have taught my little girl to recognize Morning Glory, to savor the scent of wild honeysuckle, and to value “trash” trees like the Mimosa which are considered an invasive species and are now undesirable.  Trees and shrubs improve soil and water conservation, store carbon, moderate local climate by providing shade, regulate temperature extremes, increase wildlife habitat, and improve the land’s capacity to adapt to climate change.  Any time we see a field while we are driving I shriek at my child to REALLY look at it.  “Undeveloped” land in the city is a rare and priceless thing.  I find it mostly remains on flood plains.  A favorite poet of mine, William Wordsworth, once said, “How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold?  Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.”  I brought my little girl to the place where I grew up, and it was so rough she was wary to leave the car; not out of snottiness — out of fear.  I had her and my husband get out and we walked into the field pictured above which was my childhood and the life which formed me.  If I could grant one wish for my precious child it would be this:  for her flower to be free down to her root, and in that freedom she be bold.  I grew up with nothing and yet I had everything:  I had a field of flowers.