Over the years, it has had different names. In 2011, a few days before my 30th birthday, on the Sunday I flew to Japan, she treated me to a date at its trunk. It had caught our attention in years previous, but on that day she called it, “Robby’s Birthday Tree.”* A couple years later, it was a similar fall Sunday that I was the Master of Ceremonies for a local cult I started with some area characters. We mainly painted outdoors and ate breakfast. Don’t believe me? Scroll down, mon frere. Anyway, I told that day’s believers to let the tree decide. The yield was good. We called it The Great Tree. It’s always the last to turn. Usually right around my big day. It will seem like it doesn’t have the right mix of inner color and timing to pull it off, and then it always does. It always just shines red-orange. One year it didn’t. But that was a bad year. These days, it has different names. Some still call it the Great Tree. A friend posted a photo of it with the caption, “Molly’s Tree.” That’s good. Let it have names. I am sure it has others. Two weeks ago, She texted me, “It’s really good right now.” All she needed to say. I knew I’d see it soon—it’s been on our way to work, whatever work, for years. A day later, it was snowing. I was late. I really did feel how parents must feel when they’ve accidentally left their kids at school. But then, there it was. Resplendent. Unperturbed. Generous. Generous in the proportion of its outstretched arms to its slender but steady trunk. Confident in its shape. Always outstretched, but never overextended. Generous, patient, aware. I hope you have trees in your life and that you look after them in whatever way you know how, even if that’s marking your life by their color and voting in major elections. I hope you have at least one tree you meet repeatedly. . . . *Under no circumstances do I prefer to be called “Robby.”

robertjosiahさん(@robertjosiah)が投稿した動画 - 2018/11/19 12:58:33