Mary O’Malley – As I write this, I am looking out my window at the 158-year-old Maple tree that my little cottage is nestled under. I call this beloved tree the grandmother and in all the years we have lived together she breathes out oxygen, which I then breathe in. And then I breathe out carbon dioxide, which she takes in. That is the exquisite interconnectedness of life. Sometimes I sit quietly as we breathe together, and I let her in for she carries wisdom that most of us are cut off from.

I also love to imagine what she has seen and experienced as her life unfolded. She was an infant when Lincoln became president, and she was here before cars, phones and electric lights. In all her life she has probably never experienced a 108° temperature like we had this summer, and she probably has not experienced multiple days where the air was dense with smoke particles.  Continue reading →