Honoring a Favorite

This post is dedicated to the beautiful pine tree shown in these images that stood tall in a local park for ....well, I'm not sure, but for as long as I can remember.  To be perfectly clear, I love the park and the trees in it because this park and I go waaaaay back.  

Way back to when as a very young one I started to ride my bicycle to the pool in this park where I took swimming lessons.  And, yes, sometimes in my first year of group swimming lessons, I was scared (after all I was only in 1st grade)...like during the "test" when, in order to pass, I had to jump in the deep end, swim a specified distance, flip over and back float for a short while, then resume the crawl stroke and return to the beginning point.

I remember aspirating water as I was flipping onto my back and getting scared while also trying to back float....but in that instant I also recall looking to the sky and seeing a super tall tree watching over me....and while seeing the tree I also felt the presence of something holding me up on the water as I coughed and tried to regain my composure in order to resume floating on my back...and that's when my instructor compassionately asked if I wanted to start over after a little rest....ahhhhhhhh...Yes!

Anyway, yes, I successfully completed that first swimming test and advanced easily through several additional levels.  

And, what's most important is that the huge and longstanding trees in that park have been guardians and cherished bffs to me from an early age to the present.  They are always there, and I love that feeling.  I talk to them, share laughs, complaints, tears and all sorts of stories with them....because they have been there, they have seen me and have been constant companions and protectors throughout numerous chapters of my life.  What a beautiful gift.  The beautiful giant oaks, pines and maples in that park are some of my most treasured friends, and I am grateful to know each one of them.

Fast forward to a recent storm in which some potent winds pulled one of my beloved amigos from its place in the park.  In an instant it toppled over under the force of Mother Nature.  

It lives forever in my heart and comforts me still just as it first did five decades ago.  My gratitude and love for it and this space are woven throughout my being.  Our connection is eternal.

"All trees fall, but Life doesn't end, 

it only changes.  

The fallen tree keeps giving, 

and in all that grows around it, 

rises once more."

                                                                                                                 --Douglas Wood