What Tree Would You Be?

When you go to design school, one of the first things the professors try to teach the students is to think outside of the box.  Today's post could have been an assignment in my first year studio.  After spending so much time outdoors this weekend, I thought it would be fun to try this little exercise......




I have always had an affinity for trees...I don't remember exactly when my love affair with trees began.   As a child, I remember playing under a weeping willow tree at a friend's house.  The branches were so graceful as they blew in the wind.  We spent hours playing and dancing around that tree.   Many years later, I harbored pity for a tree that became prisoner on a traffic island, when a new road was built.  You know the old Joni Mitchell song, "They paved paradise to up a parking lot."  Well, that poor tree was definitely a poster for that song!  Each time we my kids and I would pass that tree, I would always "there's my tree".  One day I stopped and took a picture of the tree, because I wanted to always remember how it look there by itself on that cramped island.  My kids thought that was so funny! 
I guess one of the reasons I felt pity for that tree was because, I see trees as being like people.  They come into this world and have to make their way.  Sometimes, life is easy and you thrive, other times, it is a struggle.  Trees come in all shapes, sizes, colors and varieties, just like we do.  I think the only difference in people and trees is we get to put our roots where ever we choose and they don't.  We can somewhat control our fate but trees are at the mercy of others.  Sometimes, I think it would be fun to be a tree and just enjoy being...


My questions is....If you could be a tree, what tree would you be?

Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling

So I asked my family what kind of trees

 they would be and this was their answers....

Credits

 My youngest son, Thomas said he would be a Sequoia.  I said well you would have to live in California, and he said , "that's ok with me!"  He said it's the biggest, strongest tree!

I have to agree!

My Son, Hiller said that he would be a palm tree because he wanted to live somewhere tropical.  He loves the beach!  Can't say I blame him for that!  

My hubby said he would be a cherry tree but only if he could bloom twice a year...an Autumn cherry is his choice.  It is kinda magnificent...

And me, you ask?

Why I choose to be a Magnolia....  

Southern, strong, beautiful fragrant blooms

And of course you can decorate with it's greenery!

I sometimes wonder if my love of trees was why my
oldest child became a forestry major at Auburn University....

At the Memorial Service for Walker, one of his fellow classmates chose the scripture below to be inscribed on a plaque in his memory... 

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands'. Isaiah 55:12




Just the thought of trees clapping their hands makes me smile....