Letter 3: Mother Nature Delivers
Photo taken by me
Hey everyone!
I enjoyed this letter because it was very short, literally like three pages on. Pipher starts off with the Lakota Tribe. Since she lives around the home of the Lakotas (which is Nebraska), she uses their terms to describe the season state she was in when writing the letter to Laura. Where she was at, she was in The Moon of Popping Trees. This is a term the Lakota tribe would use to indicate how harsh the winter season was going to be. It is when the ice storms would be harsh making tree branches snap with a loud pop. These were clear signs to the Lakota tribe that they were going to have to prepare for the harsh winter and would help them track seasons. The “popping” is a sound signal to the Lakota tribe to take the harsh winter seriously. Since they didn’t have calendars like we do now, this was their seasonal calendar. This played a big role in marking a time to make movement, when to hunt and knowing when seasons were changing. Mary bringing up this side of history gives an insight on the Lakota’s connection to their environment.
I am not sure exactly why Mrs. Pipher decided to bring up this awesome fact about the area she is living in, maybe just an introduction to her letter and how the season is going on during that time or maybe to show some kind of significant reason on how connected we are with nature whether it’s sitting in your backyard or going to new place like a National Park. After reading this super duper looooong chapter, she brings up nature again. It’s crazy how much time has changed in the past century, reminds me of where I am from. I grew up on stories about the Navajos that live in New Mexico. I’ll put some books I used to read when I went to Barcelona Elementary.
Turquoise Boy by Terri Cohlene is a retelling Native Navajo Legend about a boy that wanted to help his tribe have a more sustainable life since they were working too hard to find resources. This encourages Turquoise Boy to go on a quest in the mountains. He gathers gifts from Gods but no solution. He goes to his mother, Changing woman, with his mother’s wisdom and gifts, he proves that his people are worthy of wondrous gifts. Through a ritual, they are granted horses, which make life easier for the Navajo people by aiding in work, travel, and hunting.
Quillworker by Terri Cohlene is a pourquoi tale an origin story about how the Big Dipper was created. Cheyenne legend wrote about a gifted girl who creates exquisite quillwork. After joining seven brothers, they are pursued by the Buffalo Nation. To escape, they use magic to ascend into the sky, transforming into the Big Dipper constellation, where Quillworker continues her intricate work.
These stories brought much comfort to my childhood and I enjoyed the illustration so much. Just a little remembrance from what Mary was saying in her first introduction.
Back to the letter, a few years go Mary was putting away her Christmas decorations and looking at her Christmas cards one last time. Her client Sandra sent her a picture of her dog. Placido was standing in a garden with his tongue out and an American flag around his neck. Sandra has built her life around Placido, who gives her contentment and friendship. Their dynamic reminds Mary how important pets can be for people. There was a lady named Donella, she was allergic to cat hair, had a studio apartment, and couldn’t afford cat food, kitty litter, etc. As she was working, she couldn’t concentrate because of how much she was thinking about a pet and decided to buy a siamese kitten. She said, “Without Sofie I’d be on Prozac and Metamucil.”
Losing pets can be a very painful experience for a human to go through, your best friends, an animal that wants to just love and make you laugh only stays for a spec of your life. There have been clients crying in front of Mary saying, “I feel stupid being upset about this.” then she would often say, “I am crying more about this loss then I cried when my parents died.” Pets can make a big impact into our hearts and in our human-centric culture we can’t afford to admit this.
Mary brings up a film called Children and Nature, kids with serious psychological problems were sent to a camp where they were allowed to choose pets for themselves. Staff would watch the children carefully too. Make sure they don’t abuse the animals. It’s sad that hurting animals is common is disturbed children. Though, the children started to warm up to the animals and picked their own pets. These kids have never experienced themselves as anything but destructive, and now they expect that they would accidentally destroy what they love. As they start taking care of the animals and form a relationship with them, they begin to understand that their pets are dependent on them in order to survive, and the children experience their first unconditional positive regard.
Animals don't live at the same time as we do… Clock time. Mary was going to the state fair and she saw a couple kids displaying their cattle. As she was looking at the cattle and thought these cattle are moving exactly the same speed as they were moving a thousand years ago. It’s therapeutic for kids to slow down to the speed of cattle.
Rhythms synchronize. “Entertainment refers to a biological law that states when organisms are together they soon match rhythms.” When we are in the natural world, a place where we can be in flow state. That is when amazing things happen.
This reminds me when I went to a Jazz Concert a couple days ago to support my friend Joey (also, as I am trying to be president and he’s an officer,,, you catch my drift?) It was so much fun. I sat with his sister Veronica and her girlfriend Vivian, it was very quiet in there until the instructor was like wow why is everyone so quiet and we were like okay permission granted? alright, then we started hollering and clapping after every performance. When we saw Joey up there, we were like “THAT’S THE GUY ON THE POSTER, GO JOEY!!!!” I haven’t gone to a jazz/choir concert in so long so attending was such a joy. When the Choir finished their performance, the Jazz band was next. As they were playing and I was dancing to the rhythm, I saw Joey stand up and he started doing his solo. You can tell he was synchronizing with his trumpet and flowing with the song and amazing things happened… We listening to a rhythm soothing solo. Another amazing moment was when they played “Christmas Time is Here” by Vince Guaraldi from Charlie Brown. Ugh everything about the gentle ring of the keys in the beginning, the sounds reminds me of a night out in downtown where every tree is covered in lights, people wearing long trench coats, hot chocolate or coffee, and feeling the cold air on your face. Taking a deep breath, I just listened to them play the song and saw how in sync they were. Another amazing thing that happened.
For Mary, her daughter-in-law and her laid down on a blanket and watched the Perseid meteor showers. As they breathed the cold grassy air and counted the falling stars, they had one of the most heart-to-heart conversations. They talked about life in outer space, death, God, and time. Mary told Laura the same thing when Laura went rock climbing and canoeing. As she moves at the speed of the flowing river, her breathing changes. Her senses open up to the smell of trees and the sounds of splashing water. Mary said that the people of South Africa believe that a human community will be cursed and die when no one notices the rising and setting sun and the phases of the moon. Which I agree with. Maybe the greatest gift we can receive from the natural world is the moment we understand something that is deeply important. In a way, we can have our epiphanies anywhere, Mary likes to say that our epiphanies are best and stem from when it’s quiet and slow.
For her example, Jim and Mary journeyed through Big Ben National Park on the Texas/Mexican border. The canoed for most of the day on the river, even though she was on the river, her conversation was political and her mood was gloomy. Her mood reflected how the weather that day which was cloudy skies and the weary chill. A few moments after, the sun peaks out and flamed the canyon walls an iridescent bronze (her words not mine) Butch looked at her and said, “Look. Look. This is the kind of thing that really can happen.” She took his words into a metaphor, when she is discouraged, she will remember that blazing canyon wall and tell herself, “Look at the good things that can happen.”
I wont be able to orchestrate epiphanies, but I can suggest walks at sunset and blankets on the grass on starry nights. Then have my fingers crossed and hope they see a flock of birds flying across the brunt orange sunset or that they see a shooting star while stargazing.
When I start working with people that live in their heads, I think it would be a good idea to consider them taking care of a pet. Getting greeted by the warmth of a loyal dog’s greeting or a whimsical cat jumping on your bed and making biscuits on your arm. It gives the person a sense of purpose to feel responsible to take care of a pet, and have an animal on your side.
