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A Daughter’s Walk Through Grief
Nature, Botany of Trees, Healing Through Nature, Grief Journey
Date Published: 05-23-2025
Publisher: Holy Cow! Press
These intimate portraits of trees are a balm that heals grief.
In this memoir, Stephanie Mirocha weaves a blend of botany, philosophy,
personal reflections, and healing through nature from grief after the loss of
her father. Trees provide the backdrop of friendly support she clings to as
she revives her father’s educational Tree Trek. She “speaks for the trees,”
bringing enthusiasm to the treks she leads. Each chapter focuses on the
science of a different tree, connecting the reader with the beauty of nature,
and the vitality that comes from listening to the guiding wisdom of one’s
inner voice.
Excerpt
I’d known all along my dad was volunteering for tree projects in the park, starting with invasive buckthorn shrub removal. My daughter had told me about Grandpa’s tree tags. For 15 years, I might have randomly come across one or two tagged trees on my exercise walks, probably telling my dad how much I liked what he was doing. Beyond that, I didn’t look for more information or even think about it. My work took me away on weekends, and Tree Trek was only one Saturday a year. A favorite photo my mom gave me years earlier I knew perfectly well was a Tree Trek promo taken for the neighborhood newspaper. Yet, never before had I noticed that in it, he’s wearing a pair of binoculars around his neck! In fact, I ended up using that photo for his memorial service, creating a birch bark frame to surround it. How many people are like me, needing big arrows under a spotlight before they take notice? Understandably, we’re distractedly putting energy and effort into making a living. Our focus is directed elsewhere as parents. Sometimes we’re just not paying attention.
When I started paying attention, the whole picture swung into a full and complete view. My perspective shifted. Things no longer lined up within me the way I was accustomed, and as a consequence a new picture presented itself. My heart led me to realize that I very much wanted to pick up my dad’s legacy and continue where he had left off. Like Douglas-fir, you could say I needed to place myself in a new genus, a genus I never imagined existing in previously. I no longer, however, fit in the former one. Being here now feels familiar and safe, like home. It makes me feel connected and alive. There is no going back!
Each one of us evolves as we go through the many ups and downs of life. Even in the midst of grief and loss, opportunities present themselves for listening, paying attention, taking notice and following where your own arising inner wisdom leads. As we unlock from the inside and nurture what we find there, a new purpose can reveal itself allowing us to share latent gifts we each possess within us. We may even emerge significantly changed.
The winter after my dad died, upon getting the go-ahead from the park district to revive Tree Trek, I waited for spring to arrive and the snow to melt. Then, I walked my dad’s original route using his initial map to locate trees while planning for my own, first Tree Trek. I was so excited! The Douglas-fir from my dad’s photo was the first tree I looked for when planning my route. The probability was high that it would prove to be one of his tagged trees. Great anticipation of confirming this filled me as I crested the brick stairway of the park memorial that rests nearby Douglas-fir’s hill. That monument was familiar, but then I stepped beyond into an area of the park where I had never set foot before.
Stephanie Mirocha is a visual artist, author, Minnesota master
naturalist and science communicator who grew up climbing trees and exploring
the city park across from her childhood home. Her creative art expression not
only takes form in her passion for writing but also translates into her career
as a fine art painter. Besides creating the art for this book, she has
illustrated four children’s picture books connecting children to nature.
Frog in the House won the 2016 Giverny Award for a science picture book in
English, and My Little Book of Bald Eagles won 1st place, Juvenile Nonfiction,
in the 2010 Next Gen Indie Book Awards. She and her scientist father shared a
poetic heart and a love for nature, each informing and supporting the other
throughout their close relationship. Graduating from the University of
Minnesota with a BA in Philosophy, Stephanie followed her free spirit and
embraced the unconventional life of an artist after moving to Aitkin, a small
town in north central Minnesota. This is her first written book. Her art
business website is
https://stephaniemirocha.com/.
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