The Giving Tree - March 2018
After crossing the “leaf on the branch” as our line in the sand, we ascended into Buena Vista park to begin our quest. We learned a bit of the Giving Tree’s history: the tree inspired gratitude & joy, and once celebrated and revered by society, it had long been forgotten by the distractions of life, and its location was now unknown. Recent research into the tree's whereabouts had unearthed the Codex Arbor, a mysterious book that Troupe 001 had been called upon to interpret. With our responsibility firmly planted, we bravely reaffirmed our commitment to find the tree regardless of any challenges we may encounter.
The field guide advised everyone to keep an eye out, for there may be “more growing here than we realize.” And it was true: we spotted the Giving Tree’s first seed just past the park’s entrance. Luckily, several Foragers were nearby to make sure the Redshirts who spotted the seed didn’t accidentally find themselves grasping a handful of poison oak by mistake!
With the seed in hand, we deciphered the first chapter of the Codex, a sweet tale of a boy & his friendship with Tree. This story felt familiar for me, and I was honored to revisit it with trustworthy explorers by my side.
By unlocking the first chapter, we had earned the coordinates to the next destination. Frequency bravely attempted to decode the message, but alas, the secret decoder failed us. Luckily, the Giving Tree scholars had shared their notes, and we retrieved the coordinates in a call & response, with the troupe diligently repeating the sequence of numbers in both content and tone.
Denorae & her handy (pun intended) sidekick Flopsy noted the once celebrated and revered by society, The story took its first turn, and we started to wonder who's the hero after all. Mulling over an extra set of feet and a new love that seemed to replace the boy’s original fondness for Tree, our own hearts wavered a bit… but we still had several seeds to go.
The next site brought branches o’plenty! Frequency found the third seed, and Belle Cunningham graciously adopted the role of TV Voice to help us recap each of the previous chapters: “when we last saw our hero…”
At this point, the story’s sad hue from before took on a heavier shade. Like the villagers who once honored the Giving Tree, the Boy in the story had become distracted by life, and he started to take the gifts of Tree’s friendship for granted.
Despite the weight of the tale, the troupe carried on, once again “seeding” the coordinates into our scientific devices with our astute repetitions of the numbers -- with such vocal abilities, we have all earned our honorary infomercial voice-over badge!
En route to the next destination, we spent a moment snacking and practicing our best-est 🌳 poses. Thankfully, Steven Klarke & their trusty steed Lola happened to wander past, and we were able to document the moment.
On our way to the next site, we heard the voices of three mysterious compeers -- just moments before spotting a button that demanded we “GUESS,” which we could only assume meant “Guess who those mysterious compeers were.” We recognized Olivander’s voice, and our deductive powers led us to believe that Byzantium and Dharla Day may also be part of the triad. The three had kindly brought a game of croquet to celebrate the eventual success of our deciduous quest!
When we resumed our journey, the technological devices attempted to lead us astray, but we let the tingling Codex guide us to the next site: a pleasant grove of trees. The troupe gathered to hear the next chapter which had taken another tragic turn. Again, I felt grateful to have such gallant companions to help me process the Codex’s darker moments. We needed the light of reflection to work our way through this darkness. We each took a solar cartography print honoring the Giving Tree and wrote upon it a message to or about someone or something for which we are grateful. This gave us strength to carry on: we had yet to find the tree, yet already it was finding ways to sow joy & gratitude into our journey.
After we’d gathered our thoughts & our hearts, we set off for the fifth seed, which revealed the final chapter. Tree had lost everything by now, including its confidence. The boy finally stops making demands, and by celebrating Tree’s gifts, he reminds the tree that it is indeed still very special.
We honored Tree's selfless offerings with a commitment of our own, to give or share or create something for someone else. Each explorer graciously accepted a leaf from the Giving Tree, upon which we wrote our intention to spread these gifts beyond our Troupe. With the seeds of this commitment planted in our hearts, we were ready to finally meet the elusive Giving Tree.
Upward we trekked, taking in Buena Vista park’s namesake view along the way. At last, we reached the summit. After the day's physical and emotional ups & downs, we had finally found the legendary Giving Tree!
The truth is…it grows inside each of us. “Not to get too sappy,” but we *all* have the spirit of the Giving Tree within us. And although we are sometimes too distracted to remember, each of us gets to choose who's the hero in our story, and how we'll help them grow.
This was a lot to process, and again I was grateful to have the company of so many brave explorers to share in this journey.
With our commitment to foster gratitude & giving, we were ready to spread the seeds of what we’d learned.
Off we went… except… by jove, at the very summit of Buena Vista park, we found ourselves trapped in an Explorb! With a flash of ingenuity, Kirk realized that if we all walked in a circle progressively getting faster and wider, we could burst through the Explorb’s walls. Walking slowly, then faster, and faster, and faster, and fast-est --> we flung freely back into our freedom!
Empowered by the Tree’s discoveries and our own centrifugal force, we spun out into the world, ready to share our joy within and beyond the Guild. As we wandered our way back through the park, I felt my questions of the Codex vanish, replaced with a flourish of exclamations. How grateful I was to find myself among a forest of friends that give so freely their time & trust -- not to mention, their creativi-🌳 ;)
Many thanks to all of the Explorers who shared their open minds & hearts to rediscover the Giving Tree. May we remind each other to plant the seeds & celebrate the gifts of the Giving Tree well into the future.