Me, a Tree

Okay, here's a metaphor for you.  Think of people as trees. Think of how a tree grows and where.  Think of yourself as a tree.

A tree could be planned and planted with care and consideration by experienced gardeners.  They could have picked the perfect seed and soil and location and time.  Or a squirrel could have missed a nut and a tree grew.  Perhaps a seed was tossed aside casually with no thought of what might grow. 

However the seed was planted, you took root, you grew.  Was the soil rich and filled with nutrients or was it dry and dusty?  Maybe you were planted in clay or next to concrete so you had to push your way through to the sunshine. 

Climate, temperature, soil, and attention all affected your growth.  We've all seen trees that grow at impossible angles or are scarred from lightening or devastation.  And we all see how trees just keep on coming back, year after year.  Stolid and adaptable.

My seed took root against odds in a dry, rocky soil.  I learned to continue to grow in a clime with little sun and intermittent watering.  I thought that was normal.  As I grew and sent my roots deeper and further, I found richer soil, less rocks, more nutrients.  I learned to turn my face to the sun and open my leaves to gather the rain. 

I bet most of us have altered direction, searched for richer soil, and figured out how we could flourish in the present no matter what our beginnings.  My roots are buried deep in my past and in my origins but that is not how I grow today. 

Tree Me

A tree - stolid, strong, rooted

Dependable.

To lean on or climb to safety within,

Shelter from storms and winds,

Shade and peace from the unrelenting sun

Why?

A tree

Just to be there for me -

So I can know

Some things can be counted on.