Let your roots grow wide

In college, I had the opportunity to travel from Orange County, California to San Francisco for a weekend for my California History and Government class. One of our stops was the John Muir Woods National Monument, where I got the opportunity to see redwood trees for the first and only time so far in my life. Since of course this was pre-cell phone days, I did not take a million photographs, but I remember standing and looking up at the way the trees touched the sky.

Recently, I learned that while the redwood tree can grow upwards of three hundred feet high and over twenty feet wide, its roots don’t grow deep. Most redwoods, in fact, don’t grow more than three feet deep. It’s amazing, these wonderfully tall trees that I had the pleasure of seeing have such shallow roots.

What’s more amazing, however, is that the root system of a redwood grows out to over one hundred feet from the trunk, intertwining with the roots of other trees in the area. This intertwining allows each to tree to hold another up, especially in times of high winds and flooding.

Some people have roots that run deep in communities. They have lived in the same place for all of their lives. Their kids attend the same schools that they did. They’ve been in places for generations, and they are proud of it.

But others can feel like they don’t have wide roots. Being a military brat, I moved around a great deal. I chose to move to the Midwest almost sixteen years ago and have been here ever since. In fact, the place in which I live now is the longest I have ever resided in any one place, so my roots are growing longer and wider the more connections I make.

But my roots don’t have to be deep. Like those of the redwood, my roots can grow wide, intertwining with those of others, anchoring my story to theirs.

Isn’t that a wonderful idea?

Think about it. Every moment we interact with others in our community is a chance to stretch our own roots, to intertwine our lives into the chapters of other’s stories. We have the ability to support others as we weave our lives together into a system of roots that grow wider and wider. But what kind of roots will we each decide to mingle? Will we help someone out or become the villain of their chapters? Can we help each other to grow tall and stand tall, each shining in our own light as we share it with others?

Let your roots grow wide. Let your roots intertwine. Support each other. Protect each other through storms of misfortune and times of trouble, high winds and floods. Learn to write the chapters of your life that you share with others so that joy, hope, love, peace and magic are embodied through. Learn to extend your roots so that they touch those who might not have anyone else to support them.

Stay magical, friends.

Keep writing.

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