"Thank you! You'll be missed"

"Thank you! You'll be missed."

I watched from my office window on the second floor of our home. Two trucks
pulled up next door and maneuvered themselves in place. Four men placed orange
cones at each corner of the trucks to warn passing drivers that the vehicles
were blocking the road.

"Caution. Workers Ahead," signs were placed further down the road in each
direction.

They were about to take down a piece on my world.

Some say I have become much too sensitive to life. I have always been that
way. But I look at it in a positive sense. They in fact, are not as much in
tune with the world as I. If given a choice right now, I would remain the same.
For I see the world that they pass by.

It was a white birch tree. The kind that adds contrast to any well planned
garden or landscaping design. As much as I love color in my life, there is
nothing more breathtaking to me than the stark contrast between black and white.
I pause in awe of a fresh snow gently balanced on the thin limbs of any tree.
But in the other seasons the white birch grabs my attention quickly.

As I write this I hear the crunching, grinding sounds of the shredder. The
trucks both sit with engines idling providing whatever power it takes to do the
job.

Yes, when I realized that they were there to take that tree down, I stood at my
window and paid my respects to it. I thanked it for the shade it provided, the
contrast and beauty it added to my view. I stood many times just looking in its
direction, day dreaming, searching perhaps for just the right words to touch
your heart in something I wrote just for you.

Maybe that tree added to the quality of my writing at times. So I owed it at
least the consideration of saying "Thank you! You'll be missed." before it
fell.

Then it came to me that we should live our lives like a tree.

In the very beginning, trees know only to grow, to stretch upward. If another
tree nearby blocks its growth in any way it continues without notice and weaves
it's branches in between. A tree produces constantly what it was created to
give to the world. Weather it be leaves, nuts, or fruit, it does it without
hesitation. A tree is a great example of my belief that we need to share
ourselves, give ourselves away. Without resistance a tree provides shelter to
animals, a resting place for passing birds, shade for the weary and adds beauty
to our world. A child's first swing hangs from it's branches. It becomes a
playhouse, a perfect spot to hide in any good game of hide and seek. Some even
hold the first truths of a new and committed love when two initials are carved
in it's trunk marking permanently and forever that "B.P. loves M.C."

Then in the end it even provides warmth in a hearty fire in mid winter, housing,
furniture, or a child's first sling shot.

It stands against the winds, not straight and brittle. But bends and sways with
each challenge.

Wait, there is dead silence now. The trucks have stopped.

There, just as I thought. The final lesson in living my life like a tree.

As I look at the spot where it once stood, there is an emptiness, there is a
hole in the view I once had of my world. It is as if someone took an eraser
and removed a part of it. It's not the same. It will take time now for me to
get used to it. It's gone.

I would hope that when I am gone someone will look at the spot that I held in
this world and notice that it is not the same. I hope that the picture of me
there remains in their hearts and every time they look there will be a hole that
can't be filled.

Live like a tree, strong with deep roots in commitment. Stretch as far as you
can because you were created to. Give of yourself and provide for others.
Stand tall and hearty so that it takes two trucks and four men to take you down.

And know too, that when that times comes someone will notice you are gone and
stand in that place and say "Thank you! You'll be missed."

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