I have a tree that is next to my mailbox and close to the road. It was just a tree to me. It actually did not fit in the plan that I had for my yard. The lower branches would hit the top of trucks going by. One day I noticed that someone had cut the lower branches that hovered over the road. I guess it got in the way.
I would sit on my swing and admire my front yard. I always wondered why someone planted that tree there. I can’t plant flowers next to my mailbox and make that area pretty. I had to get rid of that tree. That was my plan. Get rid of the tree and plant flowers.
Well, one day I went to get the mail and I noticed a lot of acorns on the ground. I was thinking that maybe the squirrels were dropping nuts. Messy squirrels.
I then looked up at the tree. I saw acorns on the branches of the tree. In an instant I changed my mind about the tree. It’s food for the squirrels. I started to see the beauty of the tree. The tree stays.
All these years, the tree was vulnerable to my plans. That it did not fit into my vision. All I had to do was actually look at the tree and see its beauty and how it’s part of the beautiful and functional planet we call Earth. I have a beautiful tree next to my mailbox and it will stay.
~Rita Romero
I love being reminded to really look at our wonderful world. It is so vulnerable to us…as we are to the world.
Rita, love that you had a change of heart, and kept your tree, and you wrote about it so beautifully.
This is exceptional observation because the journey to the mailbox and the point where you pause to get your mail is an eye opening experience that goes so much further than this little tiny event you do everyday. Its becomes mindless ( unless you are expecting news or bills) . Just by getting the mail. It is exceptional because you have fond the narrow window of perception opening for you. During this mundane task, You have connected to a Web as far reaching as the power of a seed.