The Tree of Life and beyond

Hey Guys & Gals,

Just like the minutes before your next episodes of Game Of Thrones or whatever series you are into, they give you a nice recap to remind you of what had happened the week or sometimes multiple weeks before.  Last week I told you I was going to do that for myself.  Since it's been slow for me the past 2 weeks, not working or auditioning much, I thought it would be important to remind myself EVERYTHING I have had going on. My YOU DID IT NIKKI list was 50 items of things I could pat myself on the back about over the past year.  I feel good about having 50 things. I would like to get a few more under my belt too before my Bday the end of the month.

Also leading up to my birthday and also since it seems to be a quiet time for me, I figure it was time to do a little spring cleaning and I have a bag of old shoes and clothes ready for GOODWILL. Which until this year I totally took for granted. I had no idea how great this company is and never realized before how they live up to their name. They helped give jobs to people with disabilities and disadvantages and help people in recovery. It's a great cause that I am happy to contribute too. And I picked up one of my favorite Books again!  A wish can change your life...which it can! Try it!

Mine looks a whole lot more ratty these days because I have picked it up 1-3 times a year since 2008.  Geez, that's already 7 years ago. It's a 10 week commitment to the Energies of Kabbalah.  In lack of better terms, you are setting intention and deliberately creating with an Ancient Jewish Practice!  Which I would like to simplify by saying you are spinning some MAGIC!  Every time I pick it up I feel like I am discovering something new.  Please try it!  And to go along with the tree of life you are encourage to plant a tree with your wish. You can donate to their forrest or elsewhere but it's important to give back somehow. If you follow me on Instagram @nicole_dionne you may have seem this already! 

At Fresh & Easy right now, you can buy baby trees for $2.99. When you plant one, the company will also plant one. Pay it forward to our future and the next generation's future because all the hard work we are doing trying to get somewhere, searching for or embracing love, and striving for or already living our dreams is all for nothing if we can't breath!  I mean really.....it's that simple.  So I bought 2. A Pine & a Redwood!  I'm looking to my future, of having my own yard. One day big enough to plant them in one day!

The Pine Tree reminds me of home.  We had them in our woods and a big one in my uncle's yard.  We would run around them as kids and play with the cones that would drop and glue our fingers together with the sap. One day when i was around 6 or 7 my Mom and I were playing frisbee and it got thrown into the tree.  I went to retrieve it and I disrupted a hornet nest. They swarmed me.  Before I even knew what was happening my mom dove on top of me trying to protect me. A mother's love is a powerful thing. She literally took as many stings as she could for me.  We were welted. And my Aunt rushed for the hose and covered us in Mud.  It's was scary then but heartwarming and funny to think about now. I knew what mom's love was that day on a whole nothing level. The selflessness she had and still has is Saintly.  

The Redwood Tree brings up more recent memories.  The Redwood remind me of when I met my Cafe Gratitude future friends for the first time in NoCAL, and I had a mystical connection with a lady deer who followed me in the Redwoods for 10 minutes.  So much transitioned for me the year that followed.  It was like I had a heart opening surgery!  When cafe G came down to LA I was reconnected to people who left me inspired to get back to my spiritual self and work on my heart. And they would later be a rock of a community that helped me through some really hard days in 2013-2014.  And I will be forever Grateful to my family and community and those trees for those memories. 

I had received sad news the other day, that one of my uncles had past away after a long fight with health problems brought on from Cancer.  I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with him and my Aunt during his healthier days when they opened their doors to me last year while my mom was hospitalized. Uncle Ronny was a really cool, stand up guy with lots of interests and talents.  He was a good husband and a good dad, a good teacher and from what I have been told a really good shopper. haha.  In the end he was a strong and brave man. And when doctors were scratching their heads and throwing their hands up in the air he decided he had enough and just wanted to be home. I can't imagine ever being faced with that choice or knowingness. But there is something superhero like about the quality of character and soul who can willingly look death in the face and accept it. Like reading the last chapter of your own life story knowing that the last page is getting closer.  I have a hard enough time letting go of fictional characters never mind myself. To me it's the bravest thing anyone can and will do. You will be missed Uncle. Thank you for being one of my heroes this past year and being such a good man in our family! RIP

xo-Nicole