Bald Cypress

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Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of River’s passing. As many of you have said, it's hard to put into words the emotions that go with this milestone. Sadness and longing, for sure. And also sweet memories and a feeling of peace.

Josh and I celebrated and mourned River’s life with a trip to Caddo Lake. A rare natural lake in Texas, Caddo sits on the Louisiana border. It is one of the World’s largest Water Forests due to the main tree of the region — the Bald Cypress. These trees get their name because they shed their leaves, making them one of the rare crossovers of both a deciduous and cone-baring tree species. I’ve always been a bit obsessed with these trees and am lucky that one lives right outside my office window. But I have never, in all my travels, seen anything like the Cypresses at home in the Caddo. It is quite literally a forest in the water!

While not all Bald Cypresses grow in rivers, the ones that do developed a special way to stay rooted during changing water levels and shifting soils. They produce a series of above ground roots, called knees, that sprout up all along the base of each tree. As the tree grows taller, the knees merge into the main truck, building stability. It’s these “knees” that give the bald cypress their unique wide bottomed shape and allow them their aquatic life.

I learned from the Cypress to recognize my own "knees" -- the experiences/people/places in my life that have created the person I am today.  Deep friendships now separated by distance; professional aspirations once important, but then set aside; hobbies that held my past interest;  times I started down one path only to turn back; mistakes I've made; the lessons I've learned; sadness, but happiness too. In the moment of an experience or right after, I have felt that I have lost something forever. But in truth, it's all still in there -- all part of my story. All of the things now folded into making me "me".  

The trip to Caddo, the adventures of the last year and love from this community have helped me sprout a few more knees in 2022. Josh and I are working daily to keep growing and building the future we want. One thing I know for sure is that I'll be returning to Caddo in the spring to see the Cypresses in all of their green glory!