Member-only story
Minerva and the Oak Tree
It had felt like a very long time since I’d been dropped onto this lawn by the cold fall winds. The snow that’s been my blanket all this time is melting, the water nudging me down below the earth. I can feel my first roots starting to reach down to Mother Gaia. The roots will hold me firmly in the ground. Growing longer and stronger downward as I grow upward.
I’ve been feeling the warmth of the sun on the earth above me. The energy and warmth it brings me has me wanting to stretch up to meet it, to reach out for more of the warmth and the life giving rays of the sun. I’ll be able to break through the earth to begin my life above ground.
The day arrives, I feel my tender leaves push up past the earth and reach toward the light above. There is so much to take in as the days pass my height increases showing me more of the world I will be living in. Instead of the complete darkness I started in, I now experience both daylight and night, the sun and the moon. Instead of falling snow, there is falling rain.
The wind around me can be as light as a whisper one day and almost flatten me the next. As I grow above the ground, my roots spread out, holding me firmly no matter how hard the wind blows. The falling rain soaks into the earth and nourishes the roots. We’re connected above as below.
I see the grass around me grow and then the man from the house I’m standing in front of cuts it. He never cuts me though. He makes sure I’m safe and able to continue growing.
One night I hear a lot of excited noise coming from the house. I see the car leave in a hurry. All is quiet for a few days then I see the man and woman arrive together. She gets out of the car carrying a carefully wrapped bundle in her arms. She carries it so proudly. A woman from a neighbouring home meets them on their grass. There’s excited sounds from them.
I hear the lady introduce the bundle as their daughter, Minerva. I hear the name and feel mother gaia softly welcoming this little human to the world. I know then she and I have a connectedness, each in our own way. Her and I are both small and fragile, depending on the kindness of others to survive. We both are being lovingly cared for so we can grow and be who we are meant to be.
