I’ve been hearing the sound of cicadas buzzing as I walk around the arboretum, and I will occasionally see one buzz by me. Hearing them buzz recalls memories of the hot, humid summers of the East Coast where I grew up. There were pine trees around my maternal grandparents’ house that always had these shells attached to the bark—the nymphs crawl out of the soil to molt into an adult, leaving this amazing papery exoskeleton behind. It is a treasure to come across one of these sheds out at the arboretum. It reminds me how nature is powerful at building connections to memories and feelings of my life.
