Are you ready to meditate with Corrie?
Lie still and quiet in your bed.
Try and relax your arms,
Your legs.
See if you can let your body get heavy.
As you listen to the story,
Stephanie had been waiting all day to go to Moonbow Forest.
One of her aunts were in town and they'd been downtown,
Her and her mum and her aunt,
Shopping,
Trying on different clothes,
Shoes.
They had a lot of fun,
But Stephanie was tired and wanted to go to Moonbow Forest to get away for a little bit.
It was always nice when Aunt Carol come into town because they got along really well and Aunt Carol always liked to spoil her.
Aunt Carol was her mum's sister,
But sometimes it was overwhelming with family in town and she liked to go in to her bedroom and just be in her own space for a bit.
And she was feeling overstimulated,
A little bit tired.
It was all the hustle and bustle of going shopping and being downtown that she was over more than anything.
So when they got back,
She went upstairs and said that she was gonna go and have a bath and lay down for a bit.
Stephanie had a bath and put her pajamas on to get comfortable.
She sat at her dressing table,
Brushed her hair,
Put on her moisturizer.
She put it on her legs and her arms and then she put a different one on her face.
She smelled clean and fresh and she felt clean and fresh,
Like she'd just washed all of her day off her body.
It felt really good.
She pulled her little jewelry box towards her and took out her magical earrings.
The earrings that always took her to Moonbow Forest.
She put them both on and then she stared into her jewelry box and saw that she had the Tree of Life necklace in there that she'd not worn for a long time.
It was silver and it had a tree pendant on a silver necklace and the tree had lots of roots and the roots came around from the bottom and reached up to the branches at the top and it made a circle,
Joining together.
Stephanie could feel the tingles in her body starting to happen from her earrings.
That vibration,
Tingling sensation,
Running through her entire body,
Especially in her fingers and on her nose.
As she secured the Tree of Life necklace around her neck,
Deciding that she was going to wear it today to a visit to Moonbow Forest,
She felt called to do so and trusted that there was a reason for that,
So she did it.
After a few more moments of the tingles,
Her nose started to itch.
She rubbed it and twitched it and felt like she was about to sneeze when she noticed there in her mind's eye,
Even though her eyes were closed,
She could see the veil between this world and that world which was Moonbow Forest.
The curtain sparkled just like it normally does and she paused there for a minute to just watch what was happening,
What she could make out through the curtain on the other side.
She could see that there was lots of daylight.
She could make out the shape of some trees,
But that was about it.
Stephanie pulled the curtain to one side and stepped into the other world.
She felt the grass underneath her feet,
That familiar feeling.
She gripped with her toes and pinched the grass,
Grabbing a hold of it,
Feeling like she was grounding herself into it.
The soft,
Spongy,
Slightly spiky grass that she loved so much,
All thick and lush like a carpet.
Looking up there in the distance,
The trees to her left and the right,
She noticed a shadow in the shape of a unicorn,
But it wasn't very clear.
It was quite far away.
And at first she thought it might be Luna,
But it wasn't.
The shadow was too dark.
She started to walk through the forest,
Barefoot,
Feeling the grass underneath her feet.
The grass disappeared and the earth beneath her feet became more solid,
Like cool,
Dark soil.
It smelled rich and chocolatey.
And it made her tummy start to rumble.
She realized with all the shopping and being out and about all day,
She'd not eaten very much.
She was hungry.
Luckily,
She was in the most perfect place to be because Mumbo Forest had such beautiful,
Delicious delights most of the time,
But her tummy was so loud.
It was a little bit distracting.
The unicorn over there in front of her looked up and spotted her,
Whether he heard her tummy or her feet on the ground,
She wasn't sure.
But either way,
The unicorn started to walk towards her.
When it got closer,
She realized it was Harkness.
Harkness was one of the male unicorns there.
He was a very tall and regal and didn't talk too much,
But she liked him.
He was friendly and kind.
His eyes were a soft,
Pale blue and his hair was dark gray.
His mane and the hair on his tail was blue,
Just like his eyes.
Stephanie shouted hello and got closer and closer to him.
He bowed his head and smiled.
She said hi when she reached him and scratched and tickled between his eyes.
He closed his eyes for a moment,
Enjoying the sensation.
And then when he opened his eyes,
He said,
I hear that you're hungry.
Stephanie started laughing.
I wondered if it was my footsteps or my tummy rumbling that made you notice me.
He laughed and said it was her tummy.
Where's all the other unicorns?
Stephanie said.
Oh,
They're just here,
There and everywhere.
Luna knew that you were coming.
She felt it.
She asked me if I would take you to meet Everest.
Have you met Everest yet?
Stephanie shook her head.
No,
I don't think so.
You mean like the mountain?
Harkness smiled and said,
Kind of.
Climb up on my back and I'll take you.
You can go meet him.
Stephanie,
With the help from Harkness,
Climbed up on his back,
Held onto his blue mane that was all soft and silky and very thick.
She wrapped it around her wrist.
And he said,
Are you ready?
And she said,
Yes.
And that was it.
They were up and away,
Flying up over the entrance to Moonbow Forest.
She looked down at the trees down below and there were so many of them.
She could smell the mint and the lime and the chocolate and all of the wonderful flavors of the trees really strong from up here.
It was a sunny day and the sun was shining down on them,
Making the scent very,
Very intense.
It made her tummy rumble once again.
Harkness laughed when he heard it.
It won't take too long,
He said.
About two minutes of flying and then he landed down in front of a tree.
It was a very big tree.
Stephanie noticed as they flew towards it that it was bigger than any of the other trees around.
And then when she landed at that tree,
She climbed down from Harkness's back and said,
This must be Everest,
Right?
The tree was about as wide and round and fat as a house.
Its trunk was just breathtaking,
Absolutely amazing.
She peered up at the tree and couldn't,
Even if she tried,
See the top of it.
It was so tall,
So big,
So round,
So broad.
It was quite immense.
Stephanie stood back trying to peer up to the top of the tree and still couldn't see it.
And then instinctively she moved forward and put one of her hands on the tree to feel its bark.
And that's when the tree talked to her.
It had a low,
Deep,
Rumbling voice,
But it wasn't an outside voice.
She felt the tree's voice.
She didn't hear it,
But the vibration and the sound sounded like an old man.
Hello,
Stephanie,
The tree said.
The tone of the tree was quite charming,
Very friendly.
And she instantly said,
Hello,
Out loud.
But then Harkness said,
No,
No,
Talk to the tree internally.
Talk through your hand.
Send your message down from your brain,
Through your heart,
Through your hand.
That's how you communicate with Everest.
Stephanie tried.
She felt the need to close her eyes so that she could focus.
And she sent an hello down through her heart,
Down through her arm,
Into her hand and into the tree.
The tree rumbled.
And then she realized what she was feeling.
He was laughing.
She closed her eyes again and asked Everest why he was laughing at her.
And he said,
Her belly was rumbling really loud.
And then he said,
Climb on.
Stephanie opened her eyes and looked at Harkness.
Did I hear that right?
And just as she was saying that,
All of these tiny little pokey things of wood popped out on the bark of Everest's trunk,
Like stepping stones that she could climb up,
Like a rock wall.
Harkness nodded and said,
Yep,
You heard right.
You're going to enjoy this,
Stephanie.
I'll wait right here until you guys get back.
Stephanie started to climb Everest,
The biggest,
Tallest,
Oldest tree in Moonbow Forest.
She climbed and climbed and climbed.
And the whole time she was climbing,
They were talking to each other.
She kept climbing and climbing and climbing,
Going up higher and higher and higher until at one point she realized she was climbing through the clouds.
She could no longer see the forest down below.
Everywhere she looked was white clouds.
And she felt a very strong urge to step off and step onto a cloud and run around like a big giant,
As if she was running on top of fluffy marshmallows,
Squishing them with her boots,
Even though she didn't have boots on and the clouds weren't marshmallow.
Everest could feel what she wanted to do.
And he told her that she could step off.
The cloud would support her.
She stepped off onto the closest cloud with complete trust.
And he was right.
She sunk down just a little bit.
And when she looked down,
It looked like there was just mist around her feet.
Oh,
This is too cool,
She said.
She started plopping around in the mist.
And then her tummy rumbled really loud.
Everest announced that he'd brought her here because each one of the clouds was a different flavor.
It could be whatever she wanted it to be.
She looked around and noticed that all the clouds looked the same.
He felt her feeling that and told her that they would all look the same until she decided what she wanted the cloud to be made of.
And then she could snack on it and eat to her heart's desire.
The first thing that popped into her mind was mac and cheese,
Maybe because the clouds looked a bit like mac and cheese.
She looked down at her feet and the cloud beneath her was mac and cheese.
It was warm.
And then it felt kind of weird and slimy on her feet.
And Everest laughed because he could feel that she was freaking out a little bit.
But then she noticed a bowl and a spoon and she scooped up some of the mac and cheese.
It was delicious.
When she'd finished her mac and cheese,
She was already looking at the clouds around as if to say,
What can I have now?
She asked Everest if she could run to different clouds and he said,
Yes.
She ran to a big white fluffy cloud close by and jumped on it.
And when she looked down,
Ooh,
She squelched her toes into mashed potatoes.
Once again,
There was a bowl and a spoon and she scooped up some of the mashed potato cloud.
They were buttery and smooth and just enough salt and they were absolutely perfect.
The best mashed potatoes that she'd ever,
Ever eaten.
It took her literally two minutes to eat the bowl of mashed potatoes before she was looking where else she could go.
She ran as fast as she could and jumped on a cloud that was quite far away.
And when she landed into it,
It was cheesecake frosting.
Stephanie completely ignored the bowl this time and just scooped big handful up and ate it off her hand and sucked on all of her fingers.
It was ooh,
Yummy,
Yummy,
Delicious and sweet.
She spotted a cloud on the other side of Everest,
The tree and ran all the way around him.
And when she got there,
It shifted and changed.
And as she looked down,
It changed into chocolate pudding,
Squelching,
Plopping and sliming all over her feet.
The sensation was really,
Really,
Really gross.
It was cold.
There was a bowl and a spoon and she picked it up and scooped up a big full bowl of chocolate pudding.
Spoon after spoon she ate,
Smiling because it was absolutely the best chocolate pudding.
No doubt,
Hands down that she'd ever,
Ever eaten.
She ran back towards Everest and asked Everest if he was hungry.
No,
No,
No,
No,
No,
He said.
Her legs were tired from all of the climbing and she sat down in the cloud closest to him and said,
Wow,
You would have never known that all this was up here.
Everest said it was just a few lucky chosen ones to see,
Him included,
Being the tallest,
Oldest tree there.
She was thinking about how long it was gonna take her to climb down the tree to get back down.
And Everest felt her thoughts and said,
Jump onto the branch.
Stephanie got securely onto the branch that he was holding out there in front of her and he brought her all the way down back to where hotness was waiting and dropped her right there next to him.
Couldn't you have done that on the way up?
Everest said,
You never asked.
Stephanie started laughing.
She put her arms around Everest and gave him a big hug and said that she would be back someday to visit once again if that was okay.
Everest made the deepest rumble,
Sent all of these tingles and sensations through Stephanie and said,
Yes,
I would like that a lot.
And then Stephanie climbed back onto Harkness,
The unicorn and they made their way back to the part of the forest where Stephanie always goes home.
When they got back there,
Luna was there and a few other unicorns and they chatted for a while and then in the next moment,
Stephanie found herself laying on her bed in her bedroom as if she'd just had a quick power nap or something.
Her mom was shouting up downstairs that dinner was ready.
Stephanie burped,
The mac and cheese,
The mashed potatoes,
The frosting and the chocolate pudding all still rumbling around in her tummy.
Stephanie shouted down to her mom that she wasn't that hungry and mom said she would save it for later.
The end.
