FootNotes

What gives you hope?

This answer will be different for each of us. A new baby. A puppy that finally scratches to go out. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. A wedding ring. A good health report. My life is good, so I recently found myself looking for a different kind of hope. Hope that talks to my soul and stirs me deeply.

In the meantime, I was living my life. Seeing you, my dear clients. Cleaning. Reading. Walking Dakota. This June I traveled to California to see family I haven’t seen since Covid. Just a quick trip really, to Northern California and home again. I just wanted to see, hug, and love people I’ve known for 45 years.

One night at dinner with my cousins, Chris and Stephie, at their Filigreen Farm, I heard how they were able to buy a ridge that had been clearcut of its redwood trees some 30 years earlier: Now, 30 years later, the man who had clear cut that land ran into Stephie and asked if she knew anyone who would want to buy it. She immediately got on the phone and worked with her foundation and others in the area to buy the ridge - their plan is to replant redwood trees again.

At that point in our conversation, Chris got up, opened the refrigerator, and brought out a little plastic bag with hundreds of redwood seeds and showed them to me. I asked if I could hold one, and when I did, I discovered the hope I had been looking for: Here was one tiny seed holding growing secrets that would give it energy to rise hundreds of feet and live hundreds of years if given a chance.

Now this hope is living in the bottom of my refrigerator: Following Chris’s instructions, I put twelve redwood seeds in four 2” plastic containers in organic potting soil with tiny pebbles at the bottom for drainage. Then I put those four tiny pots in a plastic bag and dated them "6/30 to 8/10th" where it is 40 degrees. Because on August 10th "winter" will be over for these little seeds and I’ll put them on my window sill and wait for something tiny and green to push through. And when a little stem appears, I might even cry with joy. Because these tiny little seeds are giving me hope for this next phase of living.

If you have something that is giving you hope these days, please let me know. I’m always delighted to see you and hear what’s important in your life as well as give you deep relaxation and help soothe your pain. That’s always my hope for these sessions. Just text or call me for an appointment today. 503-867-2778.