Gratitude & Grounding in Grief

July 18, 2023

Gratitude & Grounding in Grief

Wow.

I started working on this post back in June, when I was arriving home from a trip to Michigan which was following a journey I also had made to Colorado with my sister. I called this post Gratitude & Grounding in Grief and so much has happened since to continue to carry me onward through this wild journey of life....and lately that has been grief in many forms. And yet, feeling gratitude and grounding while experiencing that grief.

As I have said before, our land is a very grounding space for us. Through all things. We are grateful there was very minimal runoff and storm damage to our land and that our brand new gravel driveway & culvert is still intact. We were prepared to accept it for whatever it was. Because you have to. Many areas and communities in Vermont are facing profound losses through the recent flooding & damage that has occurred in the past week. The news doesn't do justice to seeing it in real life. Many of these communities are full of our favorite places that we go to regularly, places we have grown to love so much. There is a profound shift at this time. Great patience is needed - an understanding, that there is an impermanence to this life. This is the lesson I keep finding myself facing...I have always been a person who is quick to tears and lately I have begun to really embrace that and I have learned that tears help me to process through it as it comes. In waves. 🌊 And then I can keep going. ♡

Take care of yourself. Then you stand up and help. Give what you can, however you can. And just existing and taking care of yourself counts as helping. Because helpers need to recharge, renew, take good care of themselves so that their gifts can be shared with others. We need each other. It feels cliche and honestly something you hear over and over but Vermont is full of a bunch of do-ers who know how to show up for each other. Vermont is a special place. And we are grateful to be here.

Now, going back to June, when I was on my shuttle home from the airport and on my way home from Michigan. Keith had been hanging out on our land while waiting to come pick me up, and he texted a picture of "the tree," - the tree we started taking photos of in each season. The tree by the opening of the fen. The great, leaning tree, that we knew someday, would fall. And fall, it finally did.

🌊♡

Summer solstice (June 21st) was when we were able to hold ceremony with the tree. Burn sage. Give gratitude. Honor. Let go. Give our love and energy to the smaller tree growing right underneath the fallen one.

We planted two apple trees along our driveway. And cooked our dinner over a fire.

🌊♡

We have caught so many exciting animals on our trail cam - and we finally caught a bear! We have also seen coyote, deer, racoon, fox, squirrel, crow, possibly a fisher cat (or a weasel - hard to tell with how distant it was & in the dark), & a domestic kitty...possibly more, I might be forgetting to mention some. Each one is a gift.

Here are some other photos from the past months on our land...we have been working hard to clear out trees that surround & hover over our future yurt site...we have had friends come & help, we have camped, we have eaten, we have foraged, we have planted, we have found peace and solitude when we've needed it.