The maple leaves are changing! How pretty they look, so many shades of orange and red. They gently bob in the breeze, so graceful. Their work providing shade for my loved ones during hot summer afternoons is now over for the year. Now the trees provide us with another gift, their leaves changing in a colorful fall time show. What generous neighbors they are.
I’m looking out a window facing west as I admire these leaves. I know behind me sun is beginning his journey climbing across the vast sky of my Indigenous homeland, warming Mother Earth and all of us.
I wonder what sun thinks of our current state, or settler nation-state I should say: the pain, fear, and confusion spread all across Turtle Island. Sun pities us, I think. I believe sun would urge us to look outside; imagine a collective as beautiful as countless leaves that are here to teach us and help keep us company. I think sun would want us to remember we all have branches to which we belong. We are not alone. Even in this turbulent time, we can find beauty and strength in our lives, if we look to the land, and our loved ones.
We can have that beautiful collective our soul is calling for. First we need to imagine it, reconnect with it. I believe our power to dream is greater than our fear.
What maple tree of life will you dream into being? Maybe I’ll be gently bobbing on the branch next to you.
Write your dreams into being in The Auntie Way Writing Retreat! November sessions begin tomorrow, November 6. Register here.
Michelle M. Jacob 