Visiting the Redwoods

 

Light through the redwood canopy

The part of the redwoods we lived in when I was born are sacred to me. My best friend is trying to visit there. Too many feels.

Thank you world for dirt and trees and fungal mycelium an redwood sorrel and slugs and salamanders and the things beneath everything.

Fungus growing on the sides of a tree

Don’t forget no matter what happens that the world is a place of terrifying beauty and depth and we owe a debt of gratitude for our existence.

These aren’t things anyone has good words for, even people with much better words than mine.  But we need to draw strength from what is good.

Redwood trees

And we need to put back into the world as much good as we can, precisely where we are needed, wherever that is, however strange or small.

Circular wooden building with ladder surrounded by plants

And this doesn’t go away, no matter what happens, no matter what is done, what snow, what is ahead.  This is both birthright and duty.

It’s important to find where we need to be.  And then be there.  Thoroughly be there.  Do there.  Whether it makes sense on the surface or not.

Sometimes we feel separated flailing in the dark.  But each do exactly what we need to do.  And underground our roots are deeply intertwined.

Plants growing up a tree

Disconnection is an illusion.  Underneath our feet is more connection than most of us can imagine.

We are each in some way exactly what we need to be.  We do best when we find that and deepen it and act from that depth.

The world needs you.

Forest floor with redwood sorrel, fern, and other plants

Our obligation to the world is unbreakable.  So is the impossible level of love underlying anything we look at.  These things are connected.

If you feel disconnected, look down.  And down.  And down.  And down.  You have roots in everything, whether you feel them or not.

Forest floor with redwood sorrel and shadow of photographer’s head

These aren’t platitudes.  This is a reality as difficult as it is beautiful.  It’s also important.  Especially now.

And there s strength and depth in places you may have never been able to look. You don’t have to feel it for it to be there.  It’s there.

View out over yellow grass and green redwood mountains turning blue in the distance

Quote from my friend, who took these pictures:  “In the forest, yes, look up at the cathedral canopy, but also look down.  Everywhere is alive.”  She’s right.  And it’s the life everywhere in redwood forests, my earliest home, that has taught me who I am, where I belong, and what being alive means.