My landlord is having Arborists come out and give estimates on trimming the trees. Whoever thought to build this house in the middle of these Spanish Oak trees wasn’t thinking far ahead. This house was built the same year I was born, and just like the trees, we humans have the opportunity to grow.

I read while planting trees they should be at least 50 feet away from the house. These trees were here long before the house and the house was placed in the middle of them. The largest cluster of them are standing about 10 feet from the house and where I sit to write this, there’s one at the front corner 2 feet away. Down the side of the house toward the backyard stands one a foot away from the back corner, so one could deduce the roots of all these trees are up under the house. What we see as the tree is only half of it. It’s true strength lies beneath.

During my walk through the neighborhood, I always look up at the trees. There’s an old, abandoned house on the corner that I slowly walk by to ponder it’s stories and have walked by it many times, but recently I stopped to take in this tree. It reminded me of when I was a kid and Daddy would get a group of guys together to chop down a dead looking tree. They would get it down to a stump and stop there, knowing it’s the best they could do. It would take an army to remove that stump roots and all, plus it would be a major disruption to the earth, so they let it be.

A tree stump offers a warm place to sit and read as a kid and maybe that’s something that needs to remain in adulthood. This tree isn’t dead. Its branches were and have been removed but the core of the tree is still standing.

Living amongst the trees has taught me well.

They would change my life in an instant if one decided to fall, so you let go of what you can’t control. They bend and sway with the breeze, so you go with the flow more. When high winds come they can be scary and you’ve probably seen what a fierce storm can do to a tree, but I harbor a deep respect for the ones still standing afterwards. I imagine the ones that do fall are just tired of being strong and ready to lay down, but there’s one thing I’ve never seen a tree do and that is run. Stepping away is my go-to pattern when people try to get too close, or are genuinely interested in ‘getting to know’ me. That is where I’m striving to be more like the tree.