The Gift of Shedding

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Definition of DECIDUOUS

1 : falling off or shed seasonally or at a certain stage of development in the life cycle <deciduous leaves><deciduous scales>

2 : having deciduous parts <maples, birches, and other deciduous trees> b : having the dominant plants deciduous <a deciduous forest>

Deciduous in May

Because of growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, I associate the word deciduous with the season of fall, with trees changing colors and shedding their leaves preparing for a winter’s nap. Now, living in a place with a different fall, seeing flowering trees lose their petals and leaves in May has made me reconsider what deciduous means. Perhaps May, and the end of spring, offers an opportunity – like spring cleaning – to leave that which we don’t need behind. To let go of thoughts, feelings, and habits that do not serve us. To embrace the natural rhythm of life, both its growth and growing pains. To think about caterpillars, tadpoles, and seeds.

My Favorite Trees

I have had a favorite tree most everywhere I have lived. The oak in my parent’s back yard. The evergreen in my yard in Bellingham. The river burch on my running path in Cincinnati. The banyan welcoming visitors to the park in my Miami neighborhood. Each tree stands. Her trunk strong and rooted. Her branches extended. Her fallen leaves enrich her soil. Each tree changes as the pages of days turn. They have taught me about shedding in their unique ways. Shedding is not about dying. It is about learning our core needs and desires. It means finding what sustains, inspires, fuels, agitates, and moves. It is a process by which life is revealed and sustained.

The Miracle of Shedding

The miracle of shedding is about transformation. When we surrender to whatever it is – whether it be the seasons that mark our years, the truth that is known in our heart, or the soil in which we are planted – we transform. Shedding is the stuff of which courage is made. This time, this moment in May, is ripe for metamorphosis. Let the leaves fall and blossoms emerge.

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