Dispatches from Rest Break: Part Two
A gift from 2024 was meeting the Alder Lake birch tree during my first week of July rest break. I’d visit weekly during my month upstate- traveling an hour by car and 40 minutes by foot. During my fall trips, we would travel out of our way to visit before our trek back to the city.
For some hikers, she seemed all too easy to miss and pass. For me, I could spot her a half mile away. A beautiful birch, thriving and standing tall with her roots firmly wrapped around a giant rock. Against all odds, at one point in time this tree was just a seed who found its way to a rock to begin a legacy.
There are a few birch trees in the area that choose and survive this path. Their legacy guides are root adaptation, mosses, crevices, and slow growth. Mosses that often call the boulder home first, create a micro environment that help to break down and trap moisture on the rock - enabling the birch tree to begin establishing its home. They have a flexible root system that can grow around and through rocks, finding even the smallest of pockets of soil to access water and nutrients. The roots follow the crevices of the rocks to further anchor itself. Perhaps most importantly, the tree grows slowly - taking time to anchor and establish a consistent source of nourishment before growing further.
Seemingly against all odds and somewhere between starshine and clay, the birch tree of Alder Lake teaches us that we can survive and thrive. It is easy to get pulled in many directions - fast growth and scaling as an entrepreneur, end of year goal setting, holiday season, the frenetic news cycle and so much more. And sometimes before we know it, we’re asleep / burnt out / unhappy in our legacy journey. But if we pause and be still, we can notice the birch tree’s legacy lessons of intention setting, slow growth, and community care.
Her legacy began with an intentional planting of a seed because, after all, what we pay attention to grows. Every time I stood next to the tree and held her roots, I’d like to repeat the words of my friend, coach and teacher Octavia Raheem: “Abundance. I have the capacity and space to fully thrive.” I like to think that years or even decades ago, this intention was whispered into the seed of the birch tree.
There was no rushing to scale, to prove “success” for the birch tree. For if that were to have been her story, we would not see a thriving tree today. At best we’d see a scrawny tree, malnourished and stretched too thin. Slow growth, rest, and patience with the non-linear paths of the rock’s crevices created a deeply rooted tree with many access points to nourishment.
My friend Dr. Key says “no one is self made.” And neither is the birch tree of Alder Lake. From the earth that holds the boulder to the boulder that holds the tree - the birch tree is held. From the moss to the granite - the birch tree is nourished and hydrated. From the birds and the insects that call her home - the birch tree is equal part of life creation.
As the final evening of this calendar year nears, I’m sitting in the memories of 2024 and the lessons of the birch tree over the last six months. I sit back in reflection, gratitude, and ease writing and repeating these words:
May I have gratitude for my breath.
May I have gratitude for my body - my body that will house me through life.
May I remember my most simple and bold of intentions for my legacy.
May I have the patience and discipline to nourish my intentions.
May I remember to be present in the right now with love and curiosity.
May I celebrate who and what I have right now - loved ones, community, Mother Earth.
May I remember gratitude for the path that led me here. For the opportunities I followed. For all that I have overcome. For the lessons I have learned.
May I remember gratitude for everything that has helped me to grow. Evolve. Reach for more.
May I remember gratitude for all of the previous versions of me. And all of the versions I’ve yet to meet.
With love, curiosity, and intention, I remember the future. I remember what is to come with gratitude. Gratitude for the opportunity for a new day. The chance to evolve, to learn, to create. To shape a joyful life and world around me. One seed and intention at a time.
Thank you for this moment to remember.
See you on the other side of 2024,
Gabrielle
