Gratitude for trees - dedicated to Wild Child

There's something so magnificent about trees... They inspire me on so many levels. I can never tire of looking at them and always discover something new and wonderful about them.

We are so fortunate to live in an area surrounded by green, which allows me to breathe in their healing presence on every walk with little Dorka.

Today I was reminded by these beautiful creations of the saying 'don't worry if your shadow is bent if you know you're standing straight'. I reach back to these comforting words so often for reassurance as I very often feel misunderstood and oversensitive in my communication with fellow humans. Hence my love of animals and nature, for their uncomplicated simplicity. When you're already quite a sensitive soul and take so much of what people say or don't say personally, pregnancy hormones really do not do you any favours in that department. Add a bit of Corona virus to the situation, making you rely on technology for most of your interactions = recipe for disaster...

But you can never underestimate the restorative power of a walk in nature. For me these experiences are hightened by prayer, as hidden wooden paths are my favourite spots to have hearty conversations with the One Who Knows.

In this time of so much uncertainty and not being able to be with so many people you love and care about, I find gardening and my daily walks in nature pure medicine.
I looked at the trees on my sunny path today and was mesmerised by the way their leaves reflect the rays of light pouring onto them and how they show their gratitude by growing towards that source and stretch out their branches in what resembles a warm embrace.

There's something so inviting about a row of trees winding along gravel paths enticing you to explore further... even if you are 8 months pregnant and exploration gains a whole new speed and manner falling very far short of graceful!

Spotting these two directions I was transported back to a poem I came across in my studies in Kuwait many many years ago, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost.

...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

...

Looking back at this poem 20 odd years on I tried to figure out the reason why it stayed with me for so long and realised the more I tried to interpret it or understand others' interpretations of it, the more it lost of its beauty. I came to the conclusion that it was satisfaction enough for me to admire life's twists and turns and decisions, whoever made them. I feel a deep sense of gratitude for all the paths I took, that have led me to the exact moment I am living now. I guess this is what the poem means to me. I dedicate this entry to a dear friend
living Germany now due to life's circumstances, whom I have nicknamed 'Wild Child', for her love and fascination of nature that reminds me of mine. My dear Wild Child, may you keep finding peace and solice in nature and may the paths you choose take you on wonderful adventures. Love Noémi PS: Don't forget to embrace every opportunity for fun on the way as the pebble on my walk today reminded me!
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