Welcome to Tall Trees!

As my dearly departed Shiba Inu mix, Tallulah, invariably believed “It’s worth a shot.” And so, here it goes…

I have grown through many iterations of myself throughout my 50+ years on this planet. In one about twenty years ago, a dear friend and confidante named Susan reminded me “tall trees catch the breeze,” whenever I challenged norms, looked at things differently, and expressed my frustration on the push-back I received. I was a fourth grade teacher at the time, and Susan had to remind me A LOT that I was a tall tree, and that this is why I caught so many “breezes.” Good heavens, was she prescient.

The past year has been the biggest example of my tall trees-ing, which is a bit ironic given that at my tallest, I was 5’1″, and because of a genetic predisposition to osteoporosis, I am shrinking.

Yet, while I may be shrinking in stature – yoga, strength, and weighted vests notwithstanding – I am growing into my own body, my own mind, my own heart, and my own spirit. There’s a lot of stuff packed into this person, and this past year has helped me to sit in it and be present with all of its complexities – body issues, contradictory opinions, neurosis, truth, and self-worth.

I will go into more of my story in future posts, but I can tell you this: You know that saying, “If you’re going through hell, keep going”? Well, I keep going, and I want those of us who are in a hard time and space to keep going with me, and those of us who are not to remember my story – our stories – when you’re not. Community has never been more important, and when we talk about the shame, the fear, and the anger (thank you, Enneagram) that burdens us – doubling down on our own hell – we realize that we are all connected. And when we see and feel these connections, we are not alone. That’s where community happens. Please help me build one here.

I have no idea how to build a website, so please forgive weirdly formatted posts in advance. I’m learning, and while I’m not completely technologically challenged, I’m also no expert. While I’m at it, the quotation used above was attributed to Winston Churchill, but there’s no proof that he ever said it, and that man doesn’t need anything more attributed to him. Chances are, it was a woman who said it, and chances are within that, it was a BIPOC woman. That’s how our history has worked, and this blog is an attempt at creating and sharing new (counter)stories.

To that end, I plan on linking up a number of BIPOC women blog sites and links here. Beautiful things and rich learning happens when these women are centered and heard. For now, I highly recommend Austin Channing Brown’s latest book, Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession.

More to come…

Necole

Tall Trees Catch the Breeze

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