Everything is Connected

Prior to my trip back home to Fresno for Thanksgiving my Dad told me about a project that he had been working on in the back yard of my family’s home where  he, my mom, brother, sister, and grandma live. My entire life I’ve lived in the country, which I think is an amazing place to grow up, and my family has always had a giant yard to do whatever in. My dad is an extremely creative man; before he became a teacher he was a carpenter for many years and still practices carpentry as well as landscaping all the time. The man honestly can’t stop coming up with new projects to build in and around the house.  During the months I was away from home (prior to Thanksgiving) he told me about his current project in the backyard. When he first explained to me that he was building a “giant doorway” in the backyard, I didn’t exactly know what he was talking about, but I thought that it sounded cool and I was excited to see it. Sure enough when I come home my Dad had literally built a giant doorway in a garden area that he had also landscaped in the backyard. This doorway is giant! It stands 12 ft tall, and 6 ft wide, the door itself is 4 inches thick. Standing in front of it I felt like I was at the entrance of a medieval castle. And that wasn’t it! When you opened the door you enter into a ring of twenty-one redwood trees that he had planted as the inner circle, and in the middle of the circle he had placed a fire pit. There are two more rings of trees that he planted outside the inner ring. Right now the redwood trees are only a couple years old so they’re not that big, but around 50 years from now there’s going to be an awesome mystical mini forest in that backyard.

There are other times when I consumed art that I could’ve blogged about, but this structure and beautiful garden/forest area that my dad built is art that definitely meant most to me. I have truly been blessed with amazing parents who strongly encourage creativity, and not only encourage it but they both lead very artistic lives. When my dad was showing me the doorway and fire pit circle he built he explained to me that he had planted 21 trees on the inner circle for a reason, he said, “They stand for a philosophy that you will follow your entire life.” At first I didn’t quite understand his riddle or what he was getting at, so he left me to ponder on it for a day without any hints. On my last day home he began pointed at different trees and telling me a letter that each one represented. I began to piece together some of the letters and finally it dawned on me that the 21 trees stood for the tattoo I have on my left shoulder, which I designed and reads “EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED” in a full-circle. Knowing that he built this beautiful forest area with me in mind made me feel extremely special and loved. He also gave my tattoo even more meaning because now it holds a strong symbolism to this little forest at home.