
The summer of 2023 was an incredibly transitional one. Upon waking most mornings, I felt a bit lost and restless. I would drive to the woods at dawn, sit, breathe, and feel the sun's warming presence on my face. I would sometimes take some coffee and occasionally a breakfast sandwich.
My special spot was about fifteen minutes from where the road turned to gravel, just far enough away from the early-morning mountain bike enthusiasts and waterfall chasers.
Being enveloped in this natural area was essential for my mental and emotional survival that summer. A few months after moving out of town, I returned to my little haven and found the large ponderosas I had sat beneath had been logged—great felled giants now resting on the forest floor.
It seemed very poignant, in that moment, in the tides of change. A place of meditation, now drastically transformed.
I said a sad goodbye to the forest that calmed me during an unpredictable time. Knowing though-- the ponderosas are quick to succeed in their native soils, sheltered while saplings in the manzanita, as they push forth and continue on towards the sun.
Comments