Walking With Trees

I walk upon soft grass dappled with golden leaves of a honey locust tree. The chill of Autumn fills the air on this sunny October afternoon as I wind around the trunk of this stately tree. I tread a narrow path that encircles the locust then swirls across an expanse of grass toward another tree, a maple. As I circle the maple, its leaves glowing like fire in the slanting sunlight, I link the two trees energetically. I then meander toward the final inward spiral.

The trees, ablaze with Fall colors, acclimate to the waning light and declining temperatures by dropping their leaves, ceasing cell growth, and slowing metabolism and the flow of life-sustaining sap. Through these changes in physiology, they enter a period of rest called dormancy and await the return of light and warmth.

As sparkling as this day appears, I dread the changing seasons and am slow to embrace the steadily decreasing daylight and approaching cold of Winter. Walking with the trees, I attune to their frequency and journey inward into the darkness, seeking dormancy and the promise of new growth in Spring.