I feel like sometimes I forget what life is about. Or maybe it's that I don't even know after all. I get a little caught up in trying to make money to support myself and my daughter, schedules and work, trying to make facetime with all my family members and all the other little things that come together to make up my life. Cleaning out the fridge and vaccuming the floor suddenly become a priority rather than taking down time to enjoy myself and time with my daughter. I forget that the world is bigger than myself, that it's bigger than the few miles I drive to and from work, and that outside of what I'm doing, the world is carrying on around me at a different pace. It's nice to take a break from all the things that I call "life". A break from reality in the midst of reality. Sometimes it's as simple as taking a walk, because I ride in the car so much that I forget that there is earth rather than pavement, that there is sky rather than ceilings, that there are trees and flowers rather than furniture and electronics. It's nice to get disconnected.
It's also fantastic to remember that in the midst of turmoil there should be laughter. I bring this up because I was reminded of this by a patch of trees. This may sound strange, but if you saw them, you'd know what I mean. On the road I travel every day, there used to be forest on either side (which I loved), but they cut and burned a huge chunk of it out. I was sad to see it when they had done this, because suddenly the forest I was passing gave way to a great field full of burned wood and ash, and what was once so beautiful was now nothing but a smoldering blackness in the center of greenery. I felt like this had violated the earth somehow, and for some reason I was hurt by it. You must understand that I am a lover of nature, especially trees and all their greatness and age. They seem so graceful to me, and their ability to be stable and to stand the test of time is amazing to me. The one thing I noticed about what is now a field, is that they had left a few trees, 5 I believe, right in the middle. They weren't the usual pine trees, and maybe that's why they weren't cut down. I'm not sure what kind of trees they were, but it seemed to me in that first moment that I saw them, that the way they stood, their branches curved and thrust into the sky, they were laughing. They looked triumphant in a way, their branches seeming to throw themselves back in laughter, and standing in a small circle they were touching eachother in a certain way that seemed like dancing to me. It sounds very strange, I am quite aware of this, but I was touched by this. All that I could think was, "Even the burning of this forest cannot destroy it's laughter". Every time I take the time to look at those trees, I remember that life is not that bad. It's demanding and it's difficult at times, but that's no reason to no enjoy it, no reason to fear it. There is no reason not to laugh and dance in the face of the universe, to say "Here I am, and I am happy, no mattter what tries to bring me down." Just a thought.
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