They're comforting. Trees provide shade from the heat, protection from the wind, and a good hiding spot while playing hide and seek.
Trees can make you feel one with nature, if you just listen and look. Have you ever felt the sway of the branches of a majestic tree and felt your cares blowing away with the wind?
Some trees are more beautiful than others. Some trees I dislike very much. Like those nasty thorn trees, which we have an abundance of on the ranch. Sure, they provide the same shade and protection, until you get too close and smack your head with one of those evil huge thorns sticking out from the trunk. Then they're not so nice. But, I suppose they have their purpose.
Some trees are not so beautiful in appearance, but more so in purpose. Like the tree in the photo. This is my tree. Not the prettiest tree on the ranch. Definitely not an evergreen or beautiful flowering tree. Nothing special about it, really.
But, you know why it's my tree? Because of what's under it. What makes this tree so special is that is provides a canopy over the final resting places of some of the most special critters on the farm. Our Farm Dogs, and one pretty special cat, that have completed their lives here on the farm, doing their jobs, guarding their animals, protecting their flocks, and being our best friends, this is their final resting place on the farm.
I love this tree because when life gets too overwhelming, when I need a place to reenergize, cry, laugh, or just pray, this tree is where I go. And I sit and lean against that tree and talk and reminisce with my favorite buddies. It's a place I can sit and I can look around me in all directions and not see anything but nature. No distractions. Nothing but trees and pastures, creeks and ponds, hillsides and valleys with animals grazing. Being there, surrounded by miles of nature, brings a unexplainable peace to my heart and soul that I find nowhere else in life.
There's nothing but solitude under my tree.
I love that tree.
