I love trees, and this is such a beautiful story. I’m so glad you never lost that spark or your desire to connect with them, even when adults tried to make you feel like what you were experiencing wasn’t real. It never even crossed my mind that Willow came from Willow Tree and became part of your pen name. I love that!
I love this story! I feel the same way about the trees around me especially the ones that have known me since childhood!! Thank you for writing this it was so magical ✨
Willow, this moved me more deeply than I expected.
I've had several experiences with trees over the course of my life that I don't talk about very often. A couple of them involved what I can only describe as genuine communication, moments when the ordinary sense of a tree as simply part of the landscape seemed to fall away and I encountered it as something profoundly alive.
I've also known trees through relationship over time. Trees I touched and spoke to every day for months while living overseas. Trees whose presence I still think about years later. And now there is a beautiful old maple outside my home that has quietly become part of my life.
Reading your story brought several of those relationships back to me at once, along with a surprising amount of emotion.
There is something about recognizing that the world around us is *living* that changes the quality of our participation with it. Your piece reminded me that some of my deepest experiences of that recognition have happened with trees.
Thank you for bringing those memories back to the surface. This one really touched me.
Thank you for sharing those experiences. I agree that when we have living breathing relationships with, trees, rivers, mountains or animals the way that we walk in this world and how we see nature shifts radically. When we are relational with her, everything transforms. We become part of a beautiful tapestry and we belong to a beautiful family.
My hope is that others are remembering and awakening to that type of connection. And I believe that many are… :)
I love trees, and this is such a beautiful story. I’m so glad you never lost that spark or your desire to connect with them, even when adults tried to make you feel like what you were experiencing wasn’t real. It never even crossed my mind that Willow came from Willow Tree and became part of your pen name. I love that!
Thanks Caroline. :) The journey had it’s ebbs and flows for sure, but I eventually found my way back, and for that I’m very grateful!
I love this story! I feel the same way about the trees around me especially the ones that have known me since childhood!! Thank you for writing this it was so magical ✨
There is something particularly special about the trees we grew up near, isn’t there? :)
Yes there is we’ve grown together and they knew us when our hearts were still so open and I’m working on getting my openness back 😅 🌳 ❤️
It can be an arduous journey... but it is also one of the most rewarding paths we can take IMO. Good luck! :)
Willow, this moved me more deeply than I expected.
I've had several experiences with trees over the course of my life that I don't talk about very often. A couple of them involved what I can only describe as genuine communication, moments when the ordinary sense of a tree as simply part of the landscape seemed to fall away and I encountered it as something profoundly alive.
I've also known trees through relationship over time. Trees I touched and spoke to every day for months while living overseas. Trees whose presence I still think about years later. And now there is a beautiful old maple outside my home that has quietly become part of my life.
Reading your story brought several of those relationships back to me at once, along with a surprising amount of emotion.
There is something about recognizing that the world around us is *living* that changes the quality of our participation with it. Your piece reminded me that some of my deepest experiences of that recognition have happened with trees.
Thank you for bringing those memories back to the surface. This one really touched me.
You just gave me the warm fuzzies! :)
Thank you for sharing those experiences. I agree that when we have living breathing relationships with, trees, rivers, mountains or animals the way that we walk in this world and how we see nature shifts radically. When we are relational with her, everything transforms. We become part of a beautiful tapestry and we belong to a beautiful family.
My hope is that others are remembering and awakening to that type of connection. And I believe that many are… :)
I am in tears of joy and relief, to read your magical words, Willow- Thank you so so much for this, and Aurora truly magnified the magic. ✨️💕✨️
That makes me smile :)
🫂
Thank you for sharing @kaylene! :)