Lessons Learned

It was a glorious holiday season this year, my first on Whidbey Island in quite some time. This is about my special tree, because that’s what it was!

Daughters Martha and Cary found three “volunteer” trees that were growing right at the edge of the parking lot, and would get much too big. We selected 2 fir and 1 cedar and bunched them together in one pot to make a fun assemblage of conifers.

These are the thoughts that came to me as I contemplated the aging tree, several weeks into the New Year.

My slowly-leaning Christmas tree is telling me a story
About the way our life plays out, its sadness and its glory;
The mys-ter-ies unfolding every moment of the day,
If only we’d embrace them, vow to put our fears at bay.

Just like my special tree I am a creature of the realm
Whose fir and cedar branches stand for action at the helm;
The action lasts for years until its strength begins to wane
And suddenly the branches sag and life becomes a bane.

I watch the branches leaning ever lower in the morning;
This is my lesson, stay awake, and heed this simple warning:
The time has come to say goodbye to tired and useless ways,
Embrace a new beginning, let the light fill up your days.

Accept what you can do, and what you can’t will fade away,
Take optimism from the shelf, put new ideas in play.
Perhaps you’ll never climb another Himalayan peak,
But look around in gratitude, your world is wide, unique.

Stay tuned for pictures and tales of this memorable family gathering.