My Legacy as Learned from the Redwoods

Travel has become important to me since my diagnosis with Parkinson’s 8 years ago because I know I don’t have time to wait for tomorrow. In August, I got to visit Muir Woods and I learned a lesson that I was not expecting to find there. One of the first things we saw was a “Family Circle” of redwoods. A large redwood stood on this spot and burned to the ground at some point. Rather than being the end of the tree, hundreds of saplings sprouted along the roots of the burned tree. You see, though all that was left of the original tree was charred remains, its deep roots were strong and spread wide, giving way to many tall, beautiful trees that circled the long-gone parent tree. The analogy of this to my life was incredibly impactful. Long after my life in this body is gone, my spirit, my heart, my life, will live on in my children and their children and their children, my friends, my students, and the people I have touched, for my roots are also deep and spread wide.