Three years after retiring, I finally signed up to be a UC Davis Arboretum volunteer. On our first day of training in January this year, we introduced ourselves. Every person shared stories of tender connection to the arboretum; riding bikes with their kids; walking with family and friends; discovering new plants for their own gardens. I didn’t know these people. Yet, in the warmth welling in my stomach, I felt an immediate web of connection to them, wound with strands of love for our shared place.
