Many moons ago I dated this guy, his brother was dating this amazing woman. This woman and I became friends - deep soul connection friends. The brothers are long gone - both toxic in their own right. But, the friendship remains. We have been through marriages, divorce, moving, home building, travel and life.
She moved to upper state New York years ago. I visit her farm as often as I can. It is a retreat from the chaos as I spend hours with her working in the garden. She is a master gardener and has a tree collection that I drool over. One in particular is a curly willow. Each visit I stop to visit the willow, hugging, petting and talking to it. Now, when my hubby comes with me he drops me off by the tree before heading to the house. I have a seedling of that willow growing in my back yard.
I've always loved trees. I love to walk among them, sit among them, talk to them and bask in their energy and ancient wisdom. My family has come to accept that at any moment I may stop and put my hand on a tree, have a conversation with a tree or simply hug it. My son, especially in public spaces simply rolls his eyes. Even my parents know enough to introduce me to trees. On my recent visit they brought me to a 2,000 year old live oak. Imagine all the things this tree has seen.
When I splurged on a photo shoot for my 50th birthday, as we took photos in the near by forest Corey asked what I would be doing on a plant walk. Hugging trees, I replied. And the photo at the top is just that, me in my element.