Oh my, I am so happy. I painted the magic and I did learn something new. I knew I would if I painted this memory and it may not seem like much to you, but to me, it hones my soul in satisfying ways.

So here’s what happened to me oh those many years ago. The storm blows in. Lightning cracks, thunder growls, just like in a fairytale! The tree begins swaying like a wild thing about to start rambling around the neighborhood, sort of like those walking trees in Lord of the Rings. I grab on tighter absolutely sure I need to ride this, need to stay where I am no matter what. I feel the energy of something building. Another gust rocks the tree and to stay in it, I grab reach around it harder and hug myself tight into the trunk with my left ear pressing against it. I rear back. The tree is talking in my ear – loudly muttering. I’m shocked and frightened, but the wind forces me to press my head against the tree again. She is talking, no question about it, and I feel as if I understand her completely. I hear every creak, groan and shimmy in her gut and it astounds me. She is alive like I am. I know her to be a friend.

That knowing of her aliveness is what I had to paint. What is new is this. I laid in the trunk first so I would have a place to put me. I painted one side dark and one side light as I am wont to do since I’m always thinking about lights and darks. Without thinking about why I chose one side or the other to be light or dark, I just did it and because I always paint colorfully, the dark is laden with blues and purples along with blacks and the light is laden with orange and red and yellow and white and even a little magenta. As I began to paint my head – which really looks more like me as an adult than a kid – I suddenly realized why the trunk is light next to where my ear is to be pressed.

The tree is glowing with the aliveness imparted by our new kinship.

She is inspired by me as much as I am inspired by her
and
that folks
is really how the world is.