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STARS AND THE COTTONWOODS
He loved the stories his Grandpa would tell when he’d visit him on the reservation…his favorite story…the one he’d always ask for…was about the stars…and their creation.
“The stars form secretly in the Earth”, Grandpa would begin, as he set him on his knee… “they drift under the surface until they find the roots of the cottonwood tree.”
“If there is a reason they choose the cottonwood…only the stars and the trees know why….the stars enter the roots…then work their way up…and wait till they are needed by the sky.
When the night sky asks the wind for more stars so the starlight can be increased,…the wind shakes the cottonwood branches, and when some break…new stars are released.
These new stars, just set free…who are only beginning to understand their light….ride upon the wind to take their places in the night.
The night sky ask these new stars to twinkle as their new life begins…it’s her way of showing the stars are safe…and saying thank you to the wind.
But Grandpa’s story doesn’t end there…if fact for his grandson, this is where it starts…as what happens next….is…and always will be…his grandson’s favorite part.
Together they gather fallen cottonwood twigs…and wait till the time is right…when the weather is calm, the sky is clear…and stars fill up the night.
They know this part by heart for they always follow the same plan…they close their eyes hold their twigs up high…then snap them as fast as they can
When they open their eyes they check the twig to see if a star pattern they can find…because the pattern is the shadow the new star has left behind…
Then they look up to the sky again…they they look high and they look far…If they see a twinkle in the sky…it’s a thank you from their star.
He love visiting his Grandpa…and if you ask him the reason why…
He’ll gladly tell you it’s because of all the stars they have sent up to the sky.
