treehuggery

i used to write much more than i do now. but the written word is woefully open to interpretation. one simple statement can be read a million ways. our perceptual lens through which we view the world, or our "window," as we often call it, colors the words.

this is part of why i love radio so much. i get to actually speak. when i'm speaking the words aloud, with my own voice, they aren't as ambiguous as they seem to be sitting here all on their own. they're just these vunerable, lonely little words with no voice but the reader's to give them meaning. and who knows how that voice will sound? will it be gruff and cranky? silly? serious? sarcastic? who knows? i hate to speculate. so, i've shyed away from it lately. (writing, i mean. not speculating. unfortunately.)

but i realize that i have a great opportunity to develop a column to go along with our latest radio project, (http://radiowednesday.blogspot.com/) so as stevie winwood says,"while you see a chance, take it." i guess i'll just have to carefully mind my words. and i'll need to accept that sometimes i'll be misunderstood, and sometimes i'll make mistakes, and sometimes i'll be embarrassed, and sometimes i'll have to explain myself, and sometimes i may look stupid, and sometimes i'll be harassed, and sometimes i'll have to say i'm sorry, and i guess i'll have to be ok with all that.

man, i've almost talked myself out of this....

so, all that explains my hiatus from writing. as for the radio wednesday hiatus, ken and i have been moving. well, actually we moved in one day (on june 8th) but the before & after-math have wreaked havoc on our routines. those of you with babies know about routines. ok, i guess you don't need a baby for that, but if you have one then you REALLY know.*

anyway, when i pondered what i'd like to write today, tree huggery came to mind. i'm pretty sure huggery isn't a real word, but i thought it described it just fine. you know, the act (art?) of tree hugging.

this topic came up because, as a part of radio wednesday, i've been pegged (labeled, stereotyped, pigeonholed) as being a tree hugger. maybe it's ken's awesome tree pics on our blog. or maybe someone has actually spotted me hugging a tree or two around town. it's possible.

wherever the notion originated, i'd like to set the record straight today. it's only partially true. i actually practice a more general form of huggery. i hug kids and dogs and grandmas and pillows and stuffed bears and pets and really just about anyone that comes along that seems like they're in need of one. i'm never wrong about that. i can tell a mile away when someone's soul is searching for a big mamma-style hug. i can't tell you the number of times total strangers have started seriously boo-hoo'ing in the midst of one of these hugs. i'm quite the hugger, no doubt.

as far as trees go, it is true that i've hugged some of them. it's also true that i name some of them. outside my window there's big puffy and soulpatch....

















soulpatch came equipped with a cool birdfeeder

we used to live near sammy junior and singsong....












singsong looked scary in winter.

before that, there was barkey and bird...

















barkey grew a curious lovebeard where we regularly hugged him.















bird, sadly, was pulled up, roots and all, by hurricane charley. lots of blackbirds made bird their home, hence his name. most of them didn't make it through charley either.

that's the trouble with naming the trees, incidently. they sometimes meet with untimely deaths, and then you've gone and named the thing so you're attached to it. i guess in that light, it's probably best to keep the naming of (bonding with) trees and such to a minimum.

anyway, so i hug trees, and i name a few of them, and i love to sit under them and look up at the sky through their branches. i understand how ridiculous that probably seems to some of you. it seemed ridiculous to me at one time, too. before 9/11.

in the months following that horrific day, like many of us, i had what you could call a spiritual "awakening." others call it a "kundalini experience," or a "spiritual rebirth." most of the folks around here would say i was "filled with the holy spirit." all these phrases really attempt to describe the same thing, which is an opening of consciousness to God through the Christ spirit. seeing the light.... hearing the still soft voice.... feeling the energy of pure, unconditional love... knowing that He is.

of course words can't describe this properly, since it's really a deep, profound, subjective, emotional experience, but for those of you who know,... well, you just know. for those of you who don't, you have so much to look forward to!

anyway, when i found God, the previously invisible trees (and flowers and clouds and sunsets and mountains and oceans and etceteras) were visible and vibrant and awe inspiring. all the ordinary things of life were somehow renewed in my mind. it was like a black and white world was suddenly colorized. i began to approach everything with such appreciation and wonder... the very same wonder that made my baby light up when she felt the grass between her little toes for the first time. she glowed and giggled and i thought there's just nothing like this kind of bliss.

so, it's true, i do stare up at the trees, and i thank God for them. i soak up their healing colors, i breathe in the fresh sweet air they deliver, and it feels awesome. i admit, i don't usually technically "hug" trees the way i hug people and pets and such. i mostly just pat the tree with my hand and give it a kind word or two. even with just that little pat, i can feel a nice energy from the tree. a healing energy. so it would probably feel pretty good to give the thing a big fat hug, but the bugs deter me. truth be told, the ridicule deters me a little, too.

maybe a teeny bit less after today, though.











*typing those caps in this sentence brings to mind the fact that i almost always type exclusively without capital letters. having many e-pals i have found it much faster to type without all the capitalization. and then i started just preferring to see the letters this way (i see it in the body of my piece as arial, with a 12 point font, and it's lovely). but for the schoolteachers et.al., i am aware of the "official" rules of capitalization. i'm just making an economical and artistic choice. i hope everyone can see beyond appearances. (who am i kidding? we're not nearly that evolved yet. i'll be back to writing "properly" in no time i'm sure.)