Palm Trees

Not many people know this but palm trees are very strong. They go into the ground as deep as they are tall. This is why when cars hit them it's almost always a fatality. They are immovable. Strong and enduring. I look at them as a symbol of life and how it should be lived. We should build our strength equal to our pain. When I see pictures of palm trees it makes me homesick for California. I wonder how many people who live there still look at those trees and see the great reminders of how they should be living their lives. I also look at them for another reason. They remind me of happy times. Working in Culver City and walking the streets and looking up into their huge fronds that would shade me in the immense heat. By the beach they fit right into the landscape. It's part of the charm of going to the beach for me. The horizon line, the endless lapping of the waves, constant flow of tides and dependable cycles that give me comfort. We like to depend on things. We like to know that some things in life don't require faith. It's a break of sorts. The beach is that reprieve for me. The ocean is mysterious and healing. I'm drawn to it for reasons even I don't quite know.

I love palm trees. They love me too. I planted one in my front yard once that my neighbor was going to throw out because it wouldn't grow for her and it grew in my yard so fast and so strong that it became a problem. I had planted it too close to my house and it was pushing up the side of my home. I had to have it dug out and re planted somewhere else. In the short time I had that palm tree it had made a gigantic root in my yard and a whole that was bigger than a small Dough Boy swimming pool after it came out of the ground. I was amazed how much that little tree had settled in after only a short time.

If I were a tree I'd want to be a Palm Tree. Dependable, deep, strong and comfortable in my element.

Adele