You Need to Find Your Old Hollow Tree
About this episode
The episode reflects on the significance of an old hollow tree as a symbol of childhood, family traditions, and personal reflection.
There is a tree at the entrance to the forest. It is very old and contains a large hollow in its center. As a boy, I would stop at the old hollow tree, pick up a stone from the path, and toss it into the dark opening before continuing on into the green. At first it was a game, the sort of thing children invent through their good little ways. I liked the sound of the stone rattling down into the cavity. I liked the thought that the tree was keeping count. I liked having a threshold to cross before disappearing into the woods. I do it still now. The game has remained, though as I grow older the character of it has changed a bit. The old game of dexterity feels more like a toll I pay before entering the forest. Some days it feels like prayer. Some days it feels like a bead slid on an abacus, a stone for every entrance into the wood, a stone for every afternoon spent wandering beneath the canopy, a stone for every small return to the same beloved place. I do this old ritual from my youth now with my wife and little girls and it has become a tradition that belongs to our family. I have said more than once to my wife that the old hollow tree looks near the end of its life. One day it…
More episodes of Echoes from an Old Hollow Tree
- There is No False Spring
- A Crisis of Keeping
- The Final Stronghold of Civilization
- To Stand in the Dark
- We Fathers Must Not Let the Fire Die
- Little Lights and Dark Days
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