Back in college I took a dendrology course, studying the forms and prevalence of trees all across North America. I happily poured over textbooks full of scientific names, taxonomies, and learned tree identification skills in the mountains of Colorado. Now, nearly 25 years later I've forgotten so many of those details, but I've never forgotten some of the trees I fell in love with in that class: Picea pungens, Pinus coulteri, Populus tremuloides, and Liriodendron tulipifera

These lovely trees- also knows as Tulip Poplars- aren't native to the American West, and so I was always on the lookout for them in Western arboretums, or when I occasionally visited family in the Midwest. When I found one, stately yet whimsical, in northern Ohio, I made sure to collect some leaves to press in my books back home. And since those college days, the Tulip Poplar, with it's graceful height, exuberant flowers, and tulip-shaped leaves has remained my very favorite- somehow coming to symbolize for me the soft, green landscapes and vague dreams of the home and life I'd someday have.

Fast forward to my 40th birthday (now almost 5 years ago!).... naturally a time of reminiscing, and evaluating life lived up to that point-...

...the chapters come and gone and still yet to be...

I wanted to really celebrate turning 40! I believe age is an achievement, and not a burden (although I definitely have to remind myself of that sometimes...lol). So, I held a dinner party with family and friends, took a few days away for a rustic getaway, and booked myself a tattoo appointment.

I decided I wanted a tattoo to represent pieces of my life: the family I came from, the family I became part of, and all the dreams I still have for the future. I worked with an amazing artist (Ella Coose) at Magnetic Arts in Berkeley, CA and chose a few meaningful flowers to create a permanent bouquet I can always carry with me. (As a side note- have you ever seen this pretty book called The Language of Flowers? It's an old favorite that still lives on my bookshelf. I've always loved learning about the old symbolism of plants & flowers. This little volume came scented with English perfume, and seemed such a luxurious possession to me as a child.)

Here's what I chose to mark the milestone of '40':

• Shooting Stars (a special wildflower that reminds me of my home state of Colorado, and the presence of God in my life)
• Snapdragons (my childhood favorite and the main flower in my wedding bouquet)
• California Poppy (the state my husband and his family are from and a place we lived for 15 years)
• Flowering Dogwood (the state flower of North Carolina, where some of my family lives)

...AND...

• My dear Tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera (to symbolize all the chapters of my life that have yet to be discovered)

So... what does all this have to do with embroidery??

Don't worry- I'm coming to that!

The serendipities of life always surprise me- they are SO deeply sweet and sacred in ways we tuck away into our hearts. It can seem silly to share them with others, knowing they may not understand, but I'm guessing you, dear reader, may understand these things too.

After 15 years living in California, my husband and I had built a good and stable life, close to family and friends. But as the years flew by, we felt more and more that we didn't want to make our home there forever. We were longing for other landscapes, for new adventures, to plant roots in a new soil. So we talked, and thought, but felt like maybe there were too many risks and barriers in changing directions. Where would we even go? (We didn't know.) Where would we work? We'd be leaving a lot of loved ones behind, and didn't want to damage those relationships. We had these conversations for several years, and the longing kept growing, but the path wasn't clear.

Until 2021...

In the midst of the pain, fear, and loss of the Pandemic, both of our jobs were made permanently remote. The whole world seemed upside down, and we reevaluated our priorities, needs, and dreams. We NEEDED a less stressful lifestyle, and less stressful jobs. We didn't want to regret never having taken the chances we wanted to. We dreamed of a new chapter.

And we saw the doors beginning to open for us- life met our little bit of bravery and offered a path forward...

After lots of online research, we picked a new city, one that neither of us had ever even visited before! We downsized our possessions dramatically, put what was left into storage, packed up 12 big plastic storage bins from Costco, our two cats, hitched up a cargo trailer- and hit the road!

We left California in the early morning of our 20th wedding anniversary. This wasn't the celebration we anticipated. There was no fanfare, no fancy gifts, just excitement and peace in finally GOING. Finally being BRAVE enough to build the life we wanted. 2,300 miles later we arrived in our new city, to a rental I had booked sight unseen. It was a hot August day when we pulled in, tired and dusty, listening to the sounds of cicadas and songbirds in the trees.

We planned to use this city as just a starting point. We didn't need to commit to it, it was just supposed to be a good base from which to explore the Midwest and Southeast parts of the country so that we could find wherever was to be our new home. So, we settled in, went exploring, and found our new routines. There were four real seasons (unlike CA), SNOW again in winter (oh- how much I had missed it!!), vibrant springs and falls, a fun and interesting city and state.....and

Much to our surprise- within just a few months we KNEW we had found our new home. In a state and city we'd never even thought of a year earlier! We kept exploring other places, but over and over again we came back to the knowledge that we liked best the place where we had already landed.

That Fall, we started looking for a home (hopefully our forever home), and we found it. A definite fixer-upper (ugh... not again.... any other home repeat home renovators out there?!), but with the peace, quiet, and space we'd longed for. We saw the house in the Fall, closed on it in January, and didn't move in until April, and I was SO excited for that Spring to arrive- and to see what plants and trees populated our new yard. Early Spring brought daffodils, forsythia, magnolia, Eastern Redbud, Sugar Maples, and dogwood and I was already over the moon.

And then....

Deep into April.....

I looked out the kitchen window one soft morning at the big tree that filled the window's view...

And realized, all of a sudden, how familiar those leaf and flower buds looked...

Pages from that old dendrology textbook came flooding back...

It was my old friend.... Liriodendron tulipifera

And this time she was actually mine.

It was as if all those old dreams, of a place where I could finally build the life I'd dreamed of, were finally coming true. Yes, it's just a tree in a backyard, but to me it's magic. I love this tree, and will happily be caring for it for the rest of it's life. She stands tall over my house, proving ample shade in the heat of summer, and showering us with her petals for a few precious weeks each year.

I needed to mark this discovery, I needed to create a memento of this dream come true, and so here we come finally to the embroidery part of this story 🙂

A late spring storm knocked a small branch off my lovely tree one day and I quickly retrieved it so that none of her green would go to waste. Tucked into the window of my little sewing room upstairs, her leaves cast afternoon shadows as I worked that day. Here was my memento-

I took one of those perfect verdant leaves, and traced it onto some fabric. Stitching was one small way I could thank this lovely tree, and thank the One who put her there. Just a small hoop, one leaf and her Latin name, to forever remind me of the perfect surprises and tiny miracles that are sprinkled through our lives. A tree is a richness better than diamonds, and she makes me feel rich indeed.

Keep stitching, LeahJoy