Toward winter’s end, I had the fortunate experience of going to a beautiful maple and cottonwood forest with some friends to gather maple sap. I have to admit that upon entering the forest I felt an immense sense of love and belonging. This feeling was so great and felt so good that, had I known how to survive in a forest, I would have never left such place.
During one of our trips to cook down the sap, I felt called to visit the last remaining "elder" maples further down from where we were. With enthusiasm I followed the almost dry creek bed unto a high bank upon which the trees stood. I had been there once before and knew which tree was calling. It was the one I kindly refer to as ‘grandma maple’ based on the impression I received during my first visit as I was laying on its leaning trunk. It felt like being embraced or held by a loving grandmother.
Once again, I laid on the trunk after greeting the tree and to my surprise I heard a whisper asking me to write a story about the tree. "A story about you?" "Yes, a child story." "A child story?" "Yes, that I may be remembered." The tree, which is on ‘it’s last leg’ so to speak wanted children to know how much maples love us.
So, amazingly enough, what follows (in the next few entries) is the story that effortlessly sprang into life out of this experience.
Injoy - all my friends who have heard it liked it quite a lot…