My husband and I were about to retire. Being a writer, I was looking forward to long hours of sitting at the computer composing great works. (Ok, well a few short stories maybe.) I didn't know what my husband would be doing. He's an energetic, talkative guy who loves to get outdoors. I pondered what would happen.

My pondering paid off. I came up with the idea of starting a Nature Club. This would not be a political action group, it would just be a group where people got together to appreciate nature, most of which would be found in our local parks and our backyards.

I created a web site, set up a social media account, advertised our walks in the local newspaper, then slowly built an email list for our newsletter. Soon we had lots of people gathering together to look at birds, identify plants, create a butterfly garden, post photos and take walks where we shared and talked about EVERYTHING.

Soon people were telling us they didn't know what they would do without the Nature Club. It saved them!  The success of the club is that we have no sense of obligation. Any opinion can be expressed, it's a democracy. My husband and I go for nature walks and invite others. If they don't come, they don't need to apologize. We were going to do it anyway.

On social media we post some of the pictures of what flowers, birds, turtles and insects we saw. This makes them realize what they missed and soon they return for another walk.

I've read that "nature bathing" is good for your health. A nature club also gives you lots of friends, shared information and a non-competitive community of nature lovers. From this you can increase the number of personal friends you have and really feel like a valid part of your human community. Who knew?