My eyes are trying to adjust to the new landscape that is changing moment by moment as the guys from a tree service cut down two ash trees in our backyard that no longer have life in them.
Early this morning after opening the blinds in the living room emotion swept through me as I thought about the impending loss of the trees. At first, I felt rather silly feeling melancholy like this. But I quickly dismissed it as I’ve learned to accept myself as I am over the years.
While I was sad, I also realized I wanted to take a moment and thank the trees for being a part of our yard for over thirty years. Again, something I’d not had admitted to in my younger years —thanking trees — but it’s who I am.
So I thanked the trees for providing shelter and a place to land and rest for the birds. I said thank you for the shade and beauty they provided. I also thought about how on Saturday evening I posted to my Facebook page that it was the last night with our Christmas tree as that too would come down the next day. It would join the fallen ash trees as they all make their way into the chipper.
A friend commented on my post, “transformed into another gift to the Earth.” It was true and made my heart smile that though the Christmas tree (and ash trees) landscape was changing, they now had an opportunity to transform into something new.
I can’t help but think, as you know me, and how life often speaks to me in these ways, but how the timing of the trees leaving and a new landscape in our backyard is in a way a metaphor of what is occurring in our country right now.
We don’t know what it will look like after tomorrow. But we will adapt and adjust. No matter what your thoughts about all of it, I’m leaning into trusting that there will be beauty and goodness that I just can’t see or know right now. The landscape will fill in in a new way, just as the days ahead will unfold in a new way, bringing with it a different view than before.
xo,
Barb
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