Cheers to Seven Years – LIONINTHETREES

It's hard for me to believe, but Eden is now seven years old!!
At most, it's felt like she was three. So realising she was actually turning seven this year was a shock to me. How did she quickly go from this adorable little pup:

To this beautiful girl:

Eden sitting in front of a turquoise and lime green coloured wall with illustrated faces and patterns. She's got her tongue out like "blep".

Eden as a youngster laying down in a driveway. The majority of her looks pitch black with some cream and red coloured hairs poking out in some areas.

Eden sitting down wearing her skeleton sweater

Eden comes practically everywhere with me, and we've gone on many adventures together.
She's now been to various places around California, Oregon, Utah, and Michigan!

Eden at the beach basking in the golden glow of the sunrise

I remember how a few years ago I thought she was going to die from oral cancer. Turns out, she just had an infection, but I'll never forget how sad and awful I felt when I thought we only had maybe 6 months left together.

Me and Eden sitting on a park bench and I'm giving her a smooch on the cheek while she's looking at the camera

For her birthday this year, I took her to Yosemite National Park. We went for her birthday back in 2022, but I thought it'd be fun to go again but visit a different area of the park.
Plus, I've been in desperate need of touching some grass.

This time, we went on the Wawona Meadow Loop Trail. I was really happy to see that this part of the park is incredibly unpopular so there was no struggle for parking, and I could just wander through the woods with Eden, letting my mind wander.

I was hoping we'd see more wildflowers, but the things we did see were really special in their own right.

Closeup of some very small blue wildflowers and pinecones

One of the coolest things I saw on this hike was this giant tree that was uprooted.
I feel like it's a really rare thing to see the actual bottom, root system of a tree!

Photo of the root system of a very large, upended tree

This tree was so tall I couldn't see where the top of it lay.

Photo of a tree that's laying down on it's side. It's so tall that it spans far beyond what is visible in the photo

It's an incredible wonder to see how this root network supported this tree for so many years, providing it nourishment, stability, and community with the surrounding trees.
I also wondered: what on earth happened here? How did it end up this way? Was it park management? Weather? Or was it some sort of giant beast that accidentally pushed it over while scratching it's back? I'll never know.

closeup of the root system of a large tree

Photo of a meadow with trees around the border

Photo of Eden sitting amongst the trees wearing her doggles and an orange saddlepack.

I really can't imagine my life without this silly, sweet, shy but also main-character-syndrome-on-tik-tok girl. Every year she's getting older, but I hope we can get at least 7 more years together.

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all images and text unless stated otherwise ©SHIRLEY JACKSON / LIONINTHETREES