Resplendent: attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous.
The photo above is of a smoke tree. Have you ever seen something so beautiful? Ethereal is the word. I stayed at the Morton Arboretum literally all day. I will be back. Below is a good ramble about my thoughts, and feelings while I was there.
I don’t care how you get there…
When I tell you, it was a journey. Over the river and through the woods kind of journey. I rode the orange line to Cicero. Had you use the pot so bad, I walked right into an automotive shop, that had a ripped sign on the door that read, “No Public Bathroom.” I don’t care, I’ll buy car parts to use the restroom. I posed that very question to the gentleman at the front, "If I purchase something, can I use your restroom?” He played at half begrudgingly providing a permit and directions to the restroom. There was a car battery in the women’s bathroom, that someone must have been saving for after-hours distribution. I caught a PACE bus that was so cold that my eyes began to gloss over and my head ached so bad. I rode that bus until the drivers changed and I realized I wouldn’t make my connection to another bus. I spotted a Marriott and a Macy’s and thought in an analog kind of way, ‘they will have to be able to call me a cab in the event that Uber is not available out here.’ Bless God, Uber worked.
Hands
When the Uber driver arrived he wore a step up from Coke Bottle Glasses. His hands looked like my father’s. To paint a clearer picture, we were in a Nissan something or other with all the windows three-quarters of the way down, riding on the expressway at about fifteen miles give or take over the speed limit at all times. If you read my blog about Senegal you know speeding gives me the giggles. I kept trying to hide my face as I prayed silently to my maker and the ancestors that made it all possible. It’s also not lost on me that my father would get so mad when I traveled because the photos I took with the instant cameras were always landscapes. Rarely if ever did the developed photos reveal any other information. I love trees and this gentleman driving with hands that looked like my fathers was driving me to take photos of trees. :) Read the signs.
For Your Information
I tried to brush off the girl at the Information counter, making eye contact, motioning me over, only to turn her head and invite a couple ahead of me. I asked her, “are you helping them or me?” Read between the lines. I think she might have been nervous but get it together. I had to to get here so you can stretch just like, I’m stretching. Everyone else was pleasant but it was hard for me to shake it off for a while.
GinGko Restaurant
I arrived at the cafe with a number of sneaky glances. I don’t know if they see many people that look like me. The ladies who worked in the cafe were very pleasant. I ordered Sesame Noodles and a tart. Check out the lunch table views.
When they showed up
I left the Ginkgo Restaurant only to circle around to the cafe. Not because I was still hungry but rather because I have a hypersensitivity around the idea of being hungry and without food. I purchased an orange from a lady named, Louise, and looked down at the register only to see a nametag on the edge that read, “Edna”. Those are my grandmothers’ names. After that point, I was able to shake any doubt that I was alone in a place with few people looking like me. Their names let me know that I had the right to be there and no one would convince me otherwise. Reading the signs, their names at the cash register assured me I would cash in on something, and that no one would write a check their ass couldn’t cash that day. Not in an abrasive kind of way but just don’t mess with people’s descendants because you don’t know their weight spiritually. If we want to take the signs further, trees are rooted, and the roots look like the veins in a woman’s placenta. I was in the womb with my mother and my grandmother. We are still connected and we amplified that connection through the trees.
Smoke Tree
In the library, you will find
Did y’all know that ants are believed to be the first cultivars of mushrooms? The text said in summary that ants will take a piece of mycelium and travel quite a ways away to cultivate the tiniest piece that they carry in their mouth to feed their hatchlings. Should there be a food shortage they will eat their eggs, consuming the mycelium before it turns into a mushroom is a no, no. I learned this in the library. The first book I choose off the shelf was about mushrooms. I think I realized that in life you can take just a small amount of every experience and savor it, don’t try and be greedy to consume and learn everything. Just be happy with your portion and move onto the next thing. After reading about the ants I was able to have a little conversation with the Librarian. As a people, we miss each other. I’ll never underestimate the power of small talk again.
When did you realize?
So I mapped things out according to the information guide. It wasn’t until about halfway into giving up on finding the trails that I realized the circles I’d made around, “P12, P18, P8, etc.” were parking lots and not plant-related. Help me Lawd. Help meh, help meh. After that, I just let the universe show me what I needed to see. Just go with your gut and let the ancestors guide you today. You’ll see everything you need to see and you’ll come back with seasoned eyes to see more someday.
I took a selfie at the end of the day. I needed to capture how I felt visually. Lashes on fleek. Sun beaming. Heart content. Thank you to the Universe for loving me enough to lead me to the Morton Arboretum. On this day, at this time, with all the signs in between.
PS the post is not edited nor finished, but if I don’t publish as is before returning to correct things, the blogs just remain drafts. Don’t block yourself. As my friend Celeste says, “empty the clip.”