Like a Giant Tree in a Storm #sol18

Please note: I am not a teacher, nor am I actively participating in the Slice of Life Challenge by the Two Writing Teachers. But one of my sisters-in-law is, and when I came across the inspiration for this piece, I couldn’t help but write up my own little slice. If you are someone participating in the SOL Challenge and want to read slices from active participants only, please do not hesitate to leave this page now. But for anyone sticking around …

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I want to read fortune cookies that have a frivolous fortune, to say something amusing that I know won’t actually happen but am entertained for the briefest of moments.

• “You will move to a mountain chalet.”
• “You will soon find yourself with a great sum of money.”
• “Something pleasantly important will happen to you in the next three days.”

Instead, here is what I read: “Be calm, like a giant tree in a storm.” It was technically my mom’s fortune, but I read it so my mom would not have to put on one of her umpteen pairs of reading glasses (a representative mixture of actual prescription glasses and cheater readers). While not the fortune-made-of-dreams that we would’ve liked, we were still amused.

Because there was some enactment involved. I got up off the counter chair, stood as a sturdy tree trunk and put my arms akimbo like calm limbs. Now picture my mom. She did roughly the same, though her tree-limb arms were all over the place. But she claimed they were calm limbs that happened to be blowing wildly around as she, a giant tree in a storm, remained calm.

It was priceless, and I’m so glad no one else was there to video it.

So, while not a fortune, it is sage advice. The next time you feel like the angry storm or the wild, frustrated winds of an angry storm, be calm. Be calm like that giant tree in the angry storm.

I’d also like to add that those redwood trees have nothing on us!*

* This is a lie, and the writer of this post knows it. As does her mother.