As I travel around Flagstaff, I feel surrounded by grove after grove of aspen trees. I feel captive to their beauty and how they represent all that it means to be connected and dependent on each other and a system. Aspen trees typically grown in large colonies. What we see up top is different from what is going on below. Each colony is derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of the root system. Each individual tree can live for 40–150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is long-lived. In some cases, this is for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground. It is a wonderful metaphor for how THPL is in our lives and on our journey – interconnected, dependent, and long lived it is the community that creates the power of what we see on the surface. So, when you see others exemplifying the THPL characteristics you can know, with some confidence, that there is a connection to other members of the THPL community whether visible or not. What a beautiful and amazing thing it is.

Loving life, when I am connected