published in The Maryville Daily Forum, April 2003

A couple of years ago, my best friend made a rare visit to Maryville, so I decided to show her around campus, nostalgically pointing out my college haunts. It was late March, still a bit chilly and damp; spring had sprung according to the calendar, but trees and grass were, for the most part, being stubborn about turning green. Still, I thought, it’s a pretty campus, with or without the green, and Amy should see it.

Then, without expecting it or inviting it, I began to fall in love with this campus again. I first fell hard on my college tour on an October Monday, but on this tour, it was as if I saw the place with new eyes.

Together, my friend and I discovered the glorious magnolia tree near the Gaunt House, so named for the full-sized flowers that form its buds. Had I passed by that side of campus a week later, the buds would have been gone. Amy exclaimed over the wonders of our local nature, which, through daily exposure, had become commonplace to me. Thanks to this tour, I rediscovered my surroundings.

Autumn, the herald of sensory memories with its symphony of scents, is undeniably my favorite of the seasons, but I do love spring. The seasonal rain produces the most gorgeous thick scent in the air, the way dirt smells as it’s being cleaned away.

The rain is also responsible for the myriad shades of green popping up. I love the first carpet of grass to appear in the spring – its color is cocky, having never known the sting of a mower’s blade or the abuse of the summer sun. Leaves are never as bright as they are now, though they may later attain a deeper greenness.

These days it is such a treat to walk around campus because you’re hyper aware that the place doubles as an arboretum. Trees that in summertime might be unexceptional are exploding in pink and white buds, but only for the briefest of blinks. These colors appear overnight and vanish into a land of green before we can even mark their presence.

The Northwest campus, as many of you might know, is also the official arboretum for the State of Missouri. It boasts more than 120 species of trees and 50 kinds of shrubs, each of which possesses its own brand of beauty.

After a Missouri winter, we all ache for spring’s arrival, and we are rewarded with daily glimpses of its glory. I’ve always believed that spring should be the season of resolutions, not the dead of January winter.

One resolution we could all make is to open new eyes to our surroundings. It’s like taking a free vacation. People pay good money to travel hundreds of miles to see sights like the ones we wake to each day.

The Northwest campus is always open, always free and always beautiful. Because 120 trees can be a bit much to take in all at once, we’ve provided walking guides that split the campus in thirds. This allows you to stroll through the shade, examine the peculiarities of each tree and discover the wonderful design of nature.

We tend to keep to our own corner of the world – or campus, for that matter. I don’t often have a reason to walk up College Drive near the president’s residence, and my springtime is poorer for it. This spring, visit the arboretum and discover – or rediscover – a corner of your world.

For more information on the Missouri Arboretum, call Lezlee Johnson at (660) 562-1473.