I tell my dog, “Let’s go check out the big tree.” We walk the path, Gus and I, stopping in the middle of the small meadow full of yellow grasses; part dried out marsh. Great trees line the edges; Maple, Oak and Ash.

                The big tree is a Willow with long , strong branches reaching up and out, roots sunk deep. I take a deep breath and let it out.  Somehow I am aligned, content in that moment. The tree stands, seemingly immovable but changing every season. How can I be like that? What parts stay and what parts change with this world? This world creating, every second, for good and bad. There must be a way to be; to calmly change some parts and leave some parts rather than just changing at the whims of the this world. 

     I know we can change how we react somewhat; it’s the touted cure for some pains and struggles. Maybe, what we can do is go back to one; a tool some therapists use in their work. Go back to the beginning, remember who you are and what you started with.  

     We started small with our feet in the earth. We grew, branching out, growing up. The earth nourishes us, connecting trees to each other.

               The earth is like our family. If we start there, maybe we can figure out what has to change with the seasons, with time. Maybe we can figure out the what, not just justify the why,  in change.