The Wolf Tree

While walking in the woods behind my house, which I do nearly everyday seeing as my trusty dog needs exercise, (yeah, yeah, me, too.) I came upon this huge Tree that was all gnarly at the bottom, then grew 2 trunks featuring lovely, gorgeous branches that reached way out and up high into the sky! WOW! It was like a Witch's tree at the bottom! Almost looked burned. But out of this blackened trunk grew 2 beautiful trunks, side by side, swaying in the breeze. Ahhh, I found a symbol for my life: Rough start (in MY mind, anyway), then I met & married Lance & and we grew together, strong base but flexible in the wind, always reaching for the wide open sky. I was so excited. I visited this Tree often. I made my art students dream up personal symbols and drew my Tree as an example. I loved this Tree.

Near this Tree is a blackberry patch. My dear mother-in-law, Carol, makes one of the best blackberry pies around so I invited her to pick berries with me so she could grace us all with her amazing pieness. Carol is one of the coolest chicks on the planet, a Seattle raised, Adirondack hardened story teller who combines her no nonsense survival skills with her West coast sensibility of tolerance and common sense. Needless to say, I have great respect for her. So I proudly told her all about my wonderful Tree, the symbol of my life and marriage to her son. She paused, then blurted out in disgust "Why, that's a WOLF tree. Wolf trees are good for nothin'. And they suck up all the oxygen and deprive the trees all around them." I was mortified. Flabbergasted. How could she dis my Tree like this? I didn't know what to say. So I said nothing.

We picked our berries, chit chatted (I still didn't know what to say) and walked home.

Fast forward to telling Lance what happened. He just laughed and explained to me that his father had been a man who harvested wood for lumber and trees like this mighty white pine were not only considered garbage, but also a nuisance since they grew tall and shaded the more desirable trees. He thought the comment about sucking up the oxygen was weird but maybe what she meant was nutrients in the soil, everything that the profitable lumber trees struggling all around it needed to survive and grow. Somehow they'd been named Wolf Trees.

Incredible how differently two people can look at the same thing. I have so much to learn.

By the way, we did have some great pie, I still visit the tree but have decided a boulder I've met is more to my liking as I can wrap my arms around it. I told Carol this story years later - she had forgotten all about it, and in an incredulous voice said "I did THAT?" I love that lady.