ONCE UPON A TIME, NOT SO LONG AGO

IN THE TRADITION OF STORYTELLING~ OR MAYBE NOT SO TRADITIONAL, MY STORY BEGAN.

STREAMS OF RANDOM THOUGHT:

AS I BUMPED AND STUMBLED INTO THE CONCRETE WALLS OF LIFE MY BRUISES WERE NOT ALWAYS APPEAR ANT. SURFACING ONLY TO NOTIFY OTHERS OF MY BLINDNESS.

FALLING, OFTEN, INTO THE PIT-HOLES WHICH WERE COVERED WITH THE FALSE AND UN STURDY GROUND OF LIES...

THE ROAD MAPS WERE ILLEGIBLE AND THE DIRECTIONS MISLEADING.... AND I SERIOUSLY WONDERED WHY I WAS CONSISTENTLY LOST AND NO RESCUE COULD REACH ME. TURNING LEFT AND RIGHT WERE NOT OPTIONS.

THE COBBLE-STONED LANE ST REACHED AS FAR AS I COULD IMAGINE, DUE TO MY LACK OF SIGHT AND FORESIGHT, I SLIPPED ON THEM. HEAVY AND MISTY WAS MY WORLD AND SLIPPERY WAS MY JOURNEY.

THE EMPTINESS OF SILENCE GRIPPED MY EARS AND RODE MY SOUL, AS A FIERY BEAST, TO HELL. IN THAT SILENCE, I FOUND NO MUSIC TO FOLLOW OR SOOTH ME.

LABORED WAS MY BREATHING. MY SKIN LONGED FOR THE RELIEVING TOUCH OF HOPES BREEZE, TO NO AVAIL.... STALE WAS THE AIR OF MY WORLD.

SOMEWHERE ALONG MY JOURNEY , IN THE MIDST OF THE DARKNESS AND LIES SEEDS WERE PLANTED IN THE SOIL OF UNCERTAINTY... SO I BECAME A FEEBLE HORTICULTURALIST, TENDING TO THE VESSELS CONTAINING THESE SEEDS. LEARNING TO REAP AS I WENT ALONG.

SOMEHOW IN MY DARKNESS ALONG THE SIDES OF THAT COBBLE-STONE LANE, SHADOWS OF TREES, IN ALL OF THEIR OMINOUS SHAPES, CAME INTO MY VIEW. FEAR GRIPPED MY HEART AND SQUEEZED MY BLOOD, COLD THROUGH MY VEINS. INDESCRIBABLE WAS MY FEAR

SO, I LUMBERED THROUGH THE DARKNESS CARING THE POTS WHICH CARRIED THE SEEDS WHICH CARRIED MY HOPE OF LIFE. FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD WHEN THE JOURNEY HAD WORN OUT MY LEGS AND MY BACK ACHED AND MY ARMS WERE AS LEAD. I CRAWLED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND GAVE THE MUDDIED EARTH MY POTTED SEEDS.

MY TEARS ANCHORED THEM IN PLACE. MY BODY SHIELDED THEM FROM THE COLD AND MIST. MY BREATH BECAME THEIR BREEZE OF COMFORT AND THEY GREW. THEY GREW TOWARD THE BLACK SKY.

WHEN THE FIRST SEED TOOK ITS SHAPE I REALIZED IT WAS AN OAK. STRONG AND STABLE. IT PIERCED THROUGH THE OMINOUS VEIL OF DARKNESS.

WHILE I SAT THERE ON THE COLD EARTH, I NOTICED THE SECOND TAKING SHAPE AND ALTHOUGH I DID NOT RECOGNIZE IT BY SIGHT ITS SMELL WAS A COMFORT LIKE I HAD NEVER KNOWN. IT GREW FROM SHEER COURAGE.... CEDAR. SOLID AND PROTECTING. IT TOO PIERCED THE SKY. ITS BRANCHES BEGAN TO INTERTWINE WITH THE FIRST.

THE NEXT TREE WAS IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED... AN ELM. WISE AND SURE. IT FOLLOWED SUIT AND MERGED ITS BRANCHES WITH THE OTHER TWO. WHEN I LOOKED UP I SAW THAT THE THREE FORMED A CANOPY OVER ME. COLLECTIVELY THEY SPREAD THEMSELVES THROUGH THE SKY REPELLING THE MIST AND ALLOWING THE COBBLE-STONE AND MUDDIED EARTH TO DRY. OPENING THE SKY TO REVEAL HEAVEN AND ITS RAYS OF LIGHT.

I STRUGGLED TO PULL MYSELF FROM THE GROUND AND THEY LENT ME THEIR ROOTS AND NUBBY BARK ON WHICH TO PULL AND BALANCE MY WEIGHT. WHEN I HAD RISEN STILL WORN AND NURSING AN EMPTY SPIRIT THEY YIELDED THE FRUIT OF MY SOUL AND REPLENISHED ME.

WITH THE NEW FOUND LIGHT I WAS ABLE TO SEE, SURROUNDING ME, THE SHOOTS OF NEW TREES WHICH ARE WAITING TO TAKE SHAPE AND GROW AROUND ME WAITING TO COMPLETE THE BUILDING OF THE NEW WORLD WHICH MY JOURNEYS STRUGGLES HAVE MADE ME DESERVING.


MY STORY CONTINUES...