This week’s challenge was “trees.”  I thought good and hard on this one.  What message did I want to convey with this theme?

What are trees?   They have  roots.  They clean our air and provide us life.  They give us shelter in a storm.

It reminded me of being a mother.  I am teaching my children to have good values, good morals, love one another.  I am giving them the strength they need to handle adversity.  I am giving them deep roots–showing them how to be grounded.   My idea was born:

I would do a self portrait.  Me, sitting at the base of a tree.  Me, a mother, with my deep roots, feeling and conveying the strength of that tree.

Yes. It would be perfect.

I was ready with a quote too, from Storypeople:

When I die, she said, I’m coming back as a tree

with deep roots & I’ll wave my leaves

at the children every morning on their way to school

& whisper tree songs at night in their dreams.

Trees with deep roots know about the things children need.

I grabbed my tripod, my remote, and my camera.  And began my search.  Only, er, I couldn’t find a good tree.  Hahaha!  But, a tree with deep roots is also flexible.  It can move in the wind.  It can shoulder a storm, as long as it has deep roots.  So, keeping that in mind, I remained flexible and with resolve, continued my search.

What I found was an old tree.  A gnarled tree. A strong and quiet tree.

Lying underneath that tree, I realized that not only am I grounded–grounded like a tree–but I have dreams.  I am a grounded dreamer.  I looked to the blue sky and the parting clouds revealing the shining sun, and I realized one of the gifts I give my children.

I teach them to be grounded and teach them to dream!

Yes.  It was perfect.