I finally find a spot I deem to be worth spending more than a second at. I sit down on my heels and just watch the forest. I’m far enough away that I can barely hear my classmates and can no longer smell the intense manure of the nearby farmland, my intention. I sit there for a good amount of time, trying my hardest to see what I could not. I have always had difficulty seeing the forest through the trees. I focus too much on the details and forget or neglect to see the big picture. As I was sitting there, I was focusing on how green the leaves of the beech trees and tall oaks were, observing how old and gnarly the roots of the fallen trees are, how dense the moss is on that branch, isn’t that moss growing on the north side of the trunk? The sun is casting dappled golden light on the leaf litter. I don’t even know what I’m looking for at this point. Cognitively, I know that there is a giant ecosystem in this place, but I’m not if I’m just being dense or if I’m just focusing too much on the trees to see it.