Tall Tall Trees

When I was little, I used to "think of a dream" before I went to sleep. (Still do sometimes). I would think of something that would really make me happy, or a good memory, and think about that until I went to sleep.
One dream I've had for a long time was to see the Sequoia trees in California. From the first time I saw these gentle giants in pictures, I've been fascinated by them. My dream always included standing underneath one and looking up toward the sky at the sheer magnitude of this huge tree, how it had survived for thousands of years, despite very shallow roots (usually less than five feet deep but spread out for miles). The trees stand because they wrap their roots around other trees in the same area, so they support each other! (Like we all should)
Well I shared my "Tree Dream" with my husband before we married, so in 2003, we made a trip to California to see my trees. We flew to Fresno, went to Sequoia National Park and Yosemite, then drove to see the Grand Canyon, Vegas, Meteor Crater, the Petrified Forest, and stopped in Phoenix to see his mom. Then we drove to Nogales Mexico to do some shopping, and flew back home from Phoenix. I kept a journal of the entire trip.
Most of the time dreams, when they come true, are not quite what we imagine. However, this dream was even better. We walked through the groves of these trees, I got to stand under them, INSIDE their trunks, on top of one that had fallen. But my best memory was sitting on a park bench in the center of a grove of Sequoias, with no sound but the forest animals and birds. It was amazing.
Nights when I can't sleep, like tonight, I try not to think about things that worry me, or bother me, but instead think of good thoughts. Seeing those trees was a dream come true, fulfilled one of those "have to do it before I die" goals. I don't think I could ever come up with another one to top it.