The Willow Tree
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Transcript
Speaker 1 Get more, nothing much happens, with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.
Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians.
Speaker 2 These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save.
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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone,
Speaker 1 in which
Speaker 1 nothing much happens.
Speaker 1 You feel good,
Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep.
Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.
Speaker 1 I create everything you hear, and nothing much happens.
Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.
Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to A Home for Hooves Sanctuary.
Speaker 1 They offer a forever home for rescued farmed animals.
Speaker 1 You can learn more about them in our show notes.
Speaker 1 If you are looking for more ways to invite coziness into your life, we have some ideas for that.
Speaker 1 We just put together a coloring pack with a Nothing Much Happens mini coloring book, colored pencils, and a downloadable exclusive story. It's such a nice gift.
Speaker 1 We also have our signature Bob Wittersheim t-shirt, our weighted pillow and wind-down box, our premium subscriptions and autographed books. It's all at nothingmuchhappens.com.
Speaker 1 Now,
Speaker 1 I've made a place for you to rest your mind.
Speaker 1 A very simple story to pull around you like a warm blanket.
Speaker 1 All you need to do is listen.
Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice,
Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.
Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night, don't hesitate to turn an episode back on,
Speaker 1 or just think through any parts of the story that you can remember,
Speaker 1 and you'll drop right back off.
Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called The Willow Tree.
Speaker 1 And it's a story about the first signs of spring on on an open field beside a lake.
Speaker 1 It's also about stepping stones, a bench up high on a bluff, geese paddling at the shore, tall rubber boots, a breeze that blows the hat from your head, and the calm quiet that comes when you stop chasing some other moment and make a home in this one.
Speaker 1 It's time.
Speaker 1 Turn off the light.
Speaker 1 Put down anything you've been looking at or working on.
Speaker 1 Slide down into your sheets
Speaker 1 and get the right pillow in the right spot and feel your whole body relax.
Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through your nose
Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.
Speaker 1 Nice.
Speaker 1 Again, inhale
Speaker 1 and release it.
Speaker 1 Good.
Speaker 1 The willow tree.
Speaker 1 It isn't just
Speaker 1 that the willow
Speaker 1 is the first tree each spring
Speaker 1 to sprout leaves,
Speaker 1 though that is certainly a glimmer I go looking for each year
Speaker 1 To see the light yellow haze,
Speaker 1 like a flaxen fog, hovering in its branches
Speaker 1 And it isn't just the way its long draping limbs dip leaves into the lake,
Speaker 1 like a beaded, viridescent curtain that I can slide through on my kayak,
Speaker 1 as if passing into a magic world,
Speaker 1 though those things are already a lot
Speaker 1 for a tree to gift to the world.
Speaker 1 For me,
Speaker 1 it is the way a willow
Speaker 1 seems to curl around you.
Speaker 1 There is something protective
Speaker 1 in its architecture.
Speaker 1 It's a place to shelter in the rain,
Speaker 1 to cool off on a sunny day,
Speaker 1 to hide away and read, or
Speaker 1 just be with something bigger than you,
Speaker 1 to feel small and safe under its umbrella.
Speaker 1 I tracked across the broad open land
Speaker 1 on my way to the willow tree.
Speaker 1 The ground was springy and damp,
Speaker 1 the grass just beginning to show green again.
Speaker 1 And I'd worn my tall boots in case of any flooded spots.
Speaker 1 The snow had been gone for just a week or two.
Speaker 1 But the sun had been shining so brightly each day
Speaker 1 that it felt like we were riding downhill toward summer.
Speaker 1 In just my jeans and a sweater,
Speaker 1 I felt warmed through
Speaker 1 as I trod over the bare ground.
Speaker 1 Even this far off,
Speaker 1 I could smell the lake.
Speaker 1 The fresh scent of the water,
Speaker 1 clear and mineral,
Speaker 1 just released from the ice,
Speaker 1 was in every breath I took.
Speaker 1 The steady plod of my feet,
Speaker 1 the rising color in my cheeks,
Speaker 1 made me feel like I was syncing up with the natural world around me.
Speaker 1 Of course,
Speaker 1 I am nature myself,
Speaker 1 and I can never really
Speaker 1 be unstitched from that fabric
Speaker 1 but after months inside
Speaker 1 after weeks with barely a glimpse of the sun
Speaker 1 or more than a few moments in the open air
Speaker 1 you can feel like
Speaker 1 old friends
Speaker 1 have gone far too long without a catch-up
Speaker 1 So I was breathing deep,
Speaker 1 opening my ears and eyes to all that I could.
Speaker 1 A breeze began to nudge my hat from my head,
Speaker 1 and I reached up and swiped it off.
Speaker 1 The warmth of the sunlight,
Speaker 1 the cool breeze around my temples.
Speaker 1 Ah, what a gift the world was today.
Speaker 1 In the distance,
Speaker 1 the willow tree was gaining size and detail.
Speaker 1 When I'd set out,
Speaker 1 it was just an indistinct dark spot on the horizon.
Speaker 1 The lake, a a broad shimmer.
Speaker 1 Now I could hear the ripple of water at the shore
Speaker 1 and the creaking of breaking ice further out.
Speaker 1 I turned a bit,
Speaker 1 deciding to go first to the water
Speaker 1 and then to my tree.
Speaker 1 Ah, to be alone
Speaker 1 in a place like this.
Speaker 1 The land rose, then dipped down
Speaker 1 in sandy spots at the edge of the lake.
Speaker 1 And I stood at the high point,
Speaker 1 looking down
Speaker 1 and looking out.
Speaker 1 Driftwood and scraps of tumbled grass and dead leaves dotted the sand.
Speaker 1 Tiny trails ran through
Speaker 1 and around all of it.
Speaker 1 Birds and small animals had left their mark.
Speaker 1 A lone bench sat on the bluff,
Speaker 1 and I found my way to it,
Speaker 1 stretching my legs out and crossing my ankles,
Speaker 1 tipping my head back
Speaker 1 to let the sun warm my face.
Speaker 1 Sometimes we get caught up
Speaker 1 in questions about
Speaker 1 what it all means,
Speaker 1 what we are meant to be achieving,
Speaker 1 where we are meant to end up,
Speaker 1 and by what age,
Speaker 1 and with what accolades.
Speaker 1 But
Speaker 1 what if just living
Speaker 1 is the point?
Speaker 1 What if we are like the birds and the trees
Speaker 1 without a why
Speaker 1 just alive
Speaker 1 because we are
Speaker 1 on the far side of the lake
Speaker 1 a gaggle of geese paddled through the water
Speaker 1 And I wondered if they had stayed through the winter
Speaker 1 or just returned from a few months away.
Speaker 1 My brain,
Speaker 1 so used to jumping ahead
Speaker 1 or floundering in the past,
Speaker 1 now stayed
Speaker 1 longer and longer
Speaker 1 with the sense
Speaker 1 and sounds and sights.
Speaker 1 I let my heart rate slow,
Speaker 1 found myself
Speaker 1 sighing
Speaker 1 and even yawning.
Speaker 1 I turned on my bench,
Speaker 1 slinging my arm over its back,
Speaker 1 and looking toward the willow tree.
Speaker 1 The breeze tossed my hair over my eyes, and I smiled as I tucked the strands behind my ears.
Speaker 1 It was forty feet tall, if it was an inch,
Speaker 1 and the span of its branches looked just as wide.
Speaker 1 I pushed up to my feet
Speaker 1 and started toward it.
Speaker 1 There were stepping stones
Speaker 1 dotted along the bluff,
Speaker 1 and I followed them,
Speaker 1 stretching out my stride
Speaker 1 to nearly leaps in places.
Speaker 1 They led away from the water,
Speaker 1 and eventually I was under the golden dome
Speaker 1 of blooming willow branches.
Speaker 1 I'd read somewhere that willows have other names.
Speaker 1 Sometimes they are called sallows
Speaker 1 or osiers.
Speaker 1 And I liked the way both of those words felt in my mouth.
Speaker 1 Fossils of them have been found
Speaker 1 dating to some 40 or 50 million years ago.
Speaker 1 That's how long they have been early to mark the spring and drape over water.
Speaker 1 A willow branch, when broken off, can simply be stuck in the ground,
Speaker 1 and it will often produce a whole new tree.
Speaker 1 What a survivor, I thought,
Speaker 1 as I got closer and reached out to place my palm on its trunk.
Speaker 1 I closed my eyes
Speaker 1 and drew deep breaths through my nose.
Speaker 1 I imagined pulling
Speaker 1 a bit
Speaker 1 of whatever was in the tree,
Speaker 1 whatever made it who and what it was
Speaker 1 into me.
Speaker 1 Its strength and adaptability,
Speaker 1 its protective attitude,
Speaker 1 and hopeful early bloom.
Speaker 1 I noticed how it felt in my chest and belly,
Speaker 1 in my legs and fingers,
Speaker 1 and looked for any spots that felt stopped up.
Speaker 1 Patiently, I kept my hand on the tree,
Speaker 1 and my breath circling.
Speaker 1 And soon my highways were clear,
Speaker 1 my back roads wide open.
Speaker 1 I opened my eyes
Speaker 1 and let my palm fall away from the bark,
Speaker 1 turned
Speaker 1 and leaned my back against it.
Speaker 1 I was calmed,
Speaker 1 quieted,
Speaker 1 nothing to search for or achieve.
Speaker 1 I just was
Speaker 1 as the tree and the water were
Speaker 1 the willow tree.
Speaker 1 It isn't just
Speaker 1 that the willow
Speaker 1 is the first tree each spring
Speaker 1 to sprout leaves,
Speaker 1 Though certainly
Speaker 1 that is a glimmer I go looking for each year
Speaker 1 To see the light yellow haze
Speaker 1 like a flaxen fog
Speaker 1 hovering in its branches
Speaker 1 And it isn't just the way
Speaker 1 its long draping limbs dip leaves into the lake
Speaker 1 like a beaded,
Speaker 1 viridescent curtain
Speaker 1 that I can slide through on my kayak,
Speaker 1 as if passing
Speaker 1 into a magic world.
Speaker 1 Though those things
Speaker 1 are already a lot
Speaker 1 for a tree to gift the world
Speaker 1 for me,
Speaker 1 it is the way a willow seems to curl around you.
Speaker 1 There is something protective
Speaker 1 in its architecture.
Speaker 1 It's a place to shelter in the rain,
Speaker 1 to cool off on a sunny day,
Speaker 1 to hide away
Speaker 1 and read,
Speaker 1 or just be
Speaker 1 with something bigger than you,
Speaker 1 to feel small
Speaker 1 and safe
Speaker 1 under its umbrella.
Speaker 1 I tracked across the broad open land
Speaker 1 on my way to the willow tree
Speaker 1 The ground was springy
Speaker 1 and damp
Speaker 1 The grass just beginning to show green again
Speaker 1 And I'd worn my tall boots
Speaker 1 in case of any flooded spots.
Speaker 1 The snow had been gone for just a week or two
Speaker 1 But the sun had been shining so brightly each day
Speaker 1 That it felt like we were riding downhill toward summer
Speaker 1 In just my jeans and a sweater,
Speaker 1 I felt warmed through
Speaker 1 as I trod over the bare ground.
Speaker 1 Even this far off,
Speaker 1 I could smell the lake,
Speaker 1 the fresh scent of water,
Speaker 1 clear
Speaker 1 and mineral,
Speaker 1 just released from the ice,
Speaker 1 was in every breath I took.
Speaker 1 The steady plod of my feet
Speaker 1 and rising color in my cheeks
Speaker 1 made me feel like
Speaker 1 I was sinking up
Speaker 1 with the natural world around me.
Speaker 1 Of course,
Speaker 1 I am nature myself
Speaker 1 and can never really be unstitched from that fabric.
Speaker 1 But after months inside,
Speaker 1 after weeks with barely a glimpse of the sun,
Speaker 1 or more than a few moments in the open air
Speaker 1 you can feel like
Speaker 1 old friends
Speaker 1 who've gone far too long
Speaker 1 without a catch-up
Speaker 1 so I was breathing deep
Speaker 1 opening my eyes and ears
Speaker 1 to all that I could
Speaker 1 A breeze began to nudge my hat from my head,
Speaker 1 and I reached up and swiped it off
Speaker 1 the warmth of the sunlight,
Speaker 1 the cool breeze around my temples.
Speaker 1 What a gift the world was to day.
Speaker 1 In the distance
Speaker 1 the willow tree was gaining size
Speaker 1 and detail.
Speaker 1 When I'd set out,
Speaker 1 it was just an indistinct dark spot
Speaker 1 on the horizon,
Speaker 1 the lake
Speaker 1 a broad shimmer.
Speaker 1 Now I could hear the ripple of water at the shore
Speaker 1 and the creaking of breaking ice
Speaker 1 further out.
Speaker 1 I turned a bit,
Speaker 1 deciding to go
Speaker 1 first to the water,
Speaker 1 then to my tree.
Speaker 1 Ah, to be alone
Speaker 1 in a place like this.
Speaker 1 The land rose,
Speaker 1 then dipped down
Speaker 1 in sandy spots
Speaker 1 at the edge of the lake,
Speaker 1 and I stood at the high point,
Speaker 1 looking down
Speaker 1 and looking out
Speaker 1 driftwood
Speaker 1 and scraps of tumbled grass
Speaker 1 and dead leaves dotted the sand.
Speaker 1 Tiny trails
Speaker 1 ran through
Speaker 1 and around all of it.
Speaker 1 Birds and small animals
Speaker 1 had left their mark.
Speaker 1 A lone bench sat on the bluff
Speaker 1 and I found my way to it,
Speaker 1 stretching my legs out,
Speaker 1 crossing my ankles,
Speaker 1 tipping my head back
Speaker 1 to let the sun
Speaker 1 warm my face.
Speaker 1 Sometimes we get
Speaker 1 caught up
Speaker 1 in questions about
Speaker 1 what it all means,
Speaker 1 what we are meant to be achieving,
Speaker 1 where we are meant to end up,
Speaker 1 and by what age,
Speaker 1 and with what accolades
Speaker 1 But what if just living
Speaker 1 is the point?
Speaker 1 What if we are like the birds
Speaker 1 and the trees
Speaker 1 without a why
Speaker 1 just alive
Speaker 1 because we are
Speaker 1 On the far side of the lake,
Speaker 1 a gaggle of geese
Speaker 1 paddled through the water,
Speaker 1 and I wondered if they had stayed through the winter
Speaker 1 or just returned
Speaker 1 from a few months away.
Speaker 1 My brain,
Speaker 1 so used to jumping ahead
Speaker 1 or floundering in the past,
Speaker 1 now stayed
Speaker 1 longer
Speaker 1 and longer
Speaker 1 with the sense,
Speaker 1 sounds and sights.
Speaker 1 I let my heart rate slow,
Speaker 1 found myself
Speaker 1 sighing
Speaker 1 and even yawning.
Speaker 1 I turned on the bench,
Speaker 1 slinging my arm over its back,
Speaker 1 and looking toward the willow tree.
Speaker 1 The breeze tossed my hair over my eyes,
Speaker 1 and I smiled
Speaker 1 as I tucked the strands behind my ears.
Speaker 1 It was forty feet tall,
Speaker 1 if it was an inch,
Speaker 1 and the span of its branches looked just as wide.
Speaker 1 I pushed up to my feet
Speaker 1 and started toward it.
Speaker 1 There were stepping stones
Speaker 1 dotted along the bluff,
Speaker 1 and I followed them,
Speaker 1 stretching out my stride
Speaker 1 to nearly leaps in places.
Speaker 1 They led away from the water,
Speaker 1 and eventually I was under the golden dome
Speaker 1 of blooming willow branches.
Speaker 1 I'd read somewhere
Speaker 1 that willows have other names.
Speaker 1 Sometimes they are called sallows
Speaker 1 or osiers.
Speaker 1 And I liked the way both of those words felt in my mouth
Speaker 1 Fossils of them have been found
Speaker 1 dating to some forty
Speaker 1 or fifty million years ago
Speaker 1 That's how long they have been
Speaker 1 early to mark the spring
Speaker 1 and drape over water
Speaker 1 A willow branch,
Speaker 1 when broken off,
Speaker 1 can simply be stuck in the ground,
Speaker 1 and it will often produce a whole new tree.
Speaker 1 What a survivor, I thought,
Speaker 1 as I got closer
Speaker 1 and reached out
Speaker 1 to place my palm
Speaker 1 on its trunk.
Speaker 1 I closed my eyes
Speaker 1 and drew
Speaker 1 deep breaths through my nose.
Speaker 1 I imagined pulling a bit
Speaker 1 of
Speaker 1 whatever was in the tree,
Speaker 1 whatever made it, who
Speaker 1 and what it was,
Speaker 1 into me,
Speaker 1 its strength
Speaker 1 and adaptability,
Speaker 1 its protective attitude,
Speaker 1 and hopeful early bloom.
Speaker 1 I noticed how it felt in my chest and belly,
Speaker 1 and my legs and fingers,
Speaker 1 and looked for any spots
Speaker 1 that felt stopped up.
Speaker 1 Patiently
Speaker 1 I kept my hand on the tree
Speaker 1 and my breath circling.
Speaker 1 And soon
Speaker 1 my highways were clear,
Speaker 1 my back roads
Speaker 1 wide open
Speaker 1 I opened my eyes
Speaker 1 and let my palm fall away from the bark,
Speaker 1 turned and leaned my back against it.
Speaker 1 I was calmed,
Speaker 1 quieted,
Speaker 1 nothing to search for or achieve.
Speaker 1 I just was
Speaker 1 as the tree
Speaker 1 and the water were
Speaker 1 sweet dreams.