This fern is growing in my mother's front yard. It's called an "Australian Tree Fern."

Being from the PNW, I take a lot of photographs of ferns, and having spent so much time with the native ferns of this lovely temperate rainforest, I would have expected something different based on the name. The Licorice Fern grows as single fronds anchored to tree trunks. It's a fern that grows on trees, primarily the trunks of Bigleaf Maples. A tree fern.

Australian tree ferns, on the other hand, are so called because they grow to be the size of a tree. This one pictured isn't that big yet, but it definitely towers over its PNW cousins. I'm accustomed to taking photographs of fiddleheads while squatting, crouching, or laying on the ground. This one was eye-level, and I'm pretty tall.

I don't go very far, but everything is different there.

It is physically, emotionally, and intellectually demanding, but my soul is at peace.

This time more than any other, I experienced pleasant week after pleasant week, with my peers consistently giving me and each other exactly what was needed at precisely the correct time.

And I laughed. Harder and longer than I have in a while. Every day.

I am exhausted; I am rejuvenated.