Sometimes you just need to get away. Away from the iphone, the internet, the insidious interruptions that invade your space. Sometimes you just need to find some peace and quiet alone. Alone with nothing but you. Sometimes you just need to find that place where nothing happens and you can take a refreshing swim in your own thoughts. A place where you can imagine or dream or even dare to think of new things you never dared to think before.
I once had that kind of place. To a seven year-old it was a tree, but in actuality it was a huge overgrown bush. The thickest branch maybe measured six inches in diameter flowing out from a main trunk maybe eight inches in diameter. It was low lying very close to the ground growing out and up like an artichoke. The leaves were small and many giving the entire tree a feather-like appearance. And it was hidden between a row of thick pine trees and a grapefruit grove. No one but me even knew it was there – or so I wanted to believe. I called it my “Wine-dee Pine-dee” tree because the branches wound up around all through the tree and I guess the “Pine” part came because it was more or less surrounded by pine trees.
In my tree I would climb up very high, four feet or so off the ground (remember I was seven and that was high). At first I would just sit there and listen to the noises of nature; birds singing, crickets chirping, leaves rustling in the wind. It was so peaceful and it was all mine. I never ever invited anyone to join me in the tree. It was my alone place. Even my mother didn’t know it existed. If she called, I would creep down and run off to another place before I answered her.
Sometimes in my tree I would pretend I was someone else and close my eyes and live an entire life as this other person. Other times I would dream of things I wanted to do or places I wanted to see or just imagine who I would be when I grew up. One of things I remember doing often in my tree was reading. I loved to read books and in my tree I could read for hours and no one would interrupt me.
In some ways my tree was my little girl heaven-on-earth. I don’t have my Wine-dee Pine-dee tree anymore. I don’t even have a place like my tree where I can be alone and dream and think and well, just be. Life is full of people and places and particular things that need to be done. My calendar fills up quickly, and every so often I think about my tree and wish I was seven again and sitting there resting, restoring, and reassuring myself that life is good and all will be well. Hmmmmm…….I think I’ll go find myself a Wine-dee Pine-dee tree! If you don’t have one, won’t you join me and find your own? It has to be good for the soul.