Mark Berman

I really wanted to take the job.

But my wife, Katie, and I, we were pregnant at the time too.

And Katie just felt uncomfortable kind of going to a new place where we didn't have family to have our child there.

So she wanted to go back and be near family in Toronto.

And it was a very difficult decision.

We were arguing a lot about it.

It was, it was a very challenging time.

But we did often talk about this difficult decision in nature.

And I remember walking through the botanical gardens a number of times with Katie, talking about all the pros and cons of it.

I don't think these were necessarily restorative walks in nature.

But again, I think being in nature...

afforded us some directed attention benefits.

And we did decide that I would give up this job and that we would, I would try to get a postdoc job in Toronto and we would have our first child in Toronto.

I do remember one time too, on one of these walks as we were in the Botanical Gardens, we did see a turtle like burying her eggs.

on the path.

And I think, you know, it just kind of made me think, you know, while this is very hard to give up this job and these jobs are very difficult to come by, focusing more on the family and what would make the family most comfortable, what would be the best environment for the family was probably the best decision.

Well, we would do this because we find that even having plants, even if they're artificial plants, in our homes, in our offices, can also lead to some benefits.

And oftentimes it's hard to bring real nature into indoor spaces.

Maybe we don't have enough natural light or it's difficult to

to water plants on a regular schedule.