Today I went to a little nature reserve not far from where I live. I had just collected a book from the library ~ Chicken Soup For The Soul and I sat on a bench in the middle of this place to read. The sun was shining through the trees and a gentle breeze blew through the wood. I started reading and read about a love between a father and his daughter and it went straight to my heart. I thought of my own daughter and the thoughts came to me that I wasn't around enough for her when she was growing up, having separated from her mother. I felt that I hadn't had enough opportunities to play with her and show her my fatherly love, what was more I hadn't told her enough how much I loved her - I started to cry. Then I thought of my own mother who died when I was young and I cried all the more, I wanted to be close to her and then at that moment the breeze caught the tree above my head and some soft leaves gently stroked my head; it felt as if a hand was lightly stroking me. I thought of what Chris said when he felt a similar experience of a tree's leaves stroking his head, as if they were communicating with him.

Maybe this was one way my mother could combine with nature to show me she was there and her love for me? I don't know but I want to believe it was so.