SEQUOIA

There was a girl who everybody called YaYa. Her mother was the moon, and her father the sun.  Her kindness and beauty, both inner and outer, inspired all life around her. Her generosity and compassion were contagious and everybody wanted to be better. The fairies wanted to fly higher. The flowers wanted to bloom brighter.

         YaYa didn’t know how to help her friends. She couldn’t think of a single way to show them how to get whatever it was that they wanted. So she went to a mountaintop to talk to her mother. There, the moon told her,

         “My love, the absolute best thing you can do is- Love. Love yourself and your life so much that you don’t know anything other than the best. You do your best, love your best, you live life your very best and others will learn by watching you and being near you and feeling the sun or moon shine on their faces.” 

         The next day, YaYa returned back to the forest and gathered her friends. She wanted to tell them all about being proud of who you are; about standing strong and tall. She wanted to tell her flower friends how to grow effortlessly instead of worrying about it- everything you need is supplied to you, sunshine, earth and water…

         She stood with her feet firmly planted in the wet dark earth hip width apart. YaYa raised her arms palms facing up. She relaxed her head back with a deep exhale. The sun warming every little follicle and molecule of her skin. Suddenly her arms started to get long! Her hair lifted by a breeze each strand started to branch out and soon she had a full head of lush green leaves. Her legs grew and her toes began to wiggle before they sprouted into roots and began twisting through the earth. Her torso extended up, up and UP soaking up the sunshine, her toes drinking up mother Earth’s sweet water. She grew so high that it was a challenge for the fairies to get up to the top. But when they did, they asked her why she had decided to make such a drastic change. She replied,

         “I hadn’t planned on becoming a tree, but now that it’s happening its seems right.” And so, she stayed rooted and grew old. Helping her friends, blowing with the wind, and radiating under the open sky.