Problem cutting down trees

[Sparkle]

Hi Christi
We're on the same wavelength[]

I won't be taking that tree down. When I go there now it feels a lot different, like I am walking amongst friends, we have a new relationship which is really nice[]

Blessings
Louis

[Maatsuah]

Hi Christi

That was a great idea.  Sparkle obviously has developed an affinity for this tree.  How many of us can say we have a tree for a friend, I mean a personal tree.

I don't want to get to mushy about it.  I mean, I don't have tea and cookies with my tree, but I do consider it my friend.

By the way Steve, I did see that commericial and thought it was funnier than before after your post.

[Katrine]

Just want to chime in with another tree story:

A few months after the cancer operation back in 1996 we were going up to the cabin in the Norwegian mountains. I was broken open by overwhelming fear and physical pain and my senses were acute. About 10 min before the final ascending towards the site we pass an old oak tree. I had passed this tree on our way to the cabin for almost 10 years - enjoying the seasonal change of colors. The tree always seemed such a beautiful welcoming presence - yet I had never stopped to be close to it. It grew on private property right next to a house, so it would have ment trespassing.

Anyway - this particular day I saw that there was an old man with a walking stick coming out the door of the house. We passed the tree and drove on. "Please stop" I said to my husband at the time. "Please stop......I want to meet this tree". My daughters (5 and 8 at the time) looked at me with large eyes (you know...."oh....grea,this is new"-type of look). They waited in the car and I walked over to the old man. He was almost without teeth and could hardly hear - but when he understood that I asked for permission to touch his oak tree....he broke into a wonderful, toothless grin and begun to tell the story of the tree......it was 250 years old and had survived everything around it . Before he entered his house again he said: "You can stay as long as you want ".

So I did. I walked up towards the enormous trunk.....put my arms around it (I felt like a tiny stamp)....and silently asked for permisson to climb the tree. About half way up I found a branch that fitted nicely with my body....and I simply leaned into it and stayed like that for a long, long time. I cried and cried......the tree took and took (it seemed to have an endless capacity for unburdening my soul) - and in the end I could not tell the difference between the tree and myself. Everything became quiet in a way I had never experienced before.

It was so profound......I couldn't speak about it for years. Nobody said anything when I got back into the car.....they must have sensed the silence.

Ever since that day - whenever we went to the cabin - the girls and I would open the car windows to "drink oak power/love" when we passed by. So even though I now don't go there anymore (since the divorce last year) - my children do, and they keep greeting the tree.

I guess I will just have to bond with another tree soon
It is the nicest doctor I have ever been to