My favorite tree in the world grows around a mile along my favorite hiking route in my neighborhood. I would not say that it is the most beautiful tree; It is a bit disheveled, and its trunk is not straight, and its needles seem thin. There are prettier trees on this particular path, even, and certainly more beautiful trees in other neighborhoods, and all are perfect and their presence helps me to survive. But this is my favorite, which is the correct type of tree, and also the hardest.
My favorite tree of all trees grows through a granite rock. It is such a big rock that it seems that it should be honored with a different title, as if it were an extension of the earth, not a loose rock that is there for a glacier. He Great rock is the size of a huge rock And it is so great that it makes me think of Half Dome, or some other pluton.
The tree is growing through a crack in this rock, and the main root of the tree, which is serpentine and thirty feet and looks like a trunk, is expanding that crack as it grows. It is forcing the rock to separate and consume part of the rock and the earth under it.
The tree is the most determined living being I have found.
I think of his genesis every time I visit him. I imagine two scenarios.
Perhaps, a seed fell on a divot in the rock, which was full of dirt and pollen and other bases. Then, the seed froze in snow, that the ponderosa seedlings require for germination, and in spring the seed sprouted. The little litter provided nutrients. His small roots seized the divot, and finally pushed down, and his roots and the ice cycle were divided opened the rock.
Or maybe, the huge crack was there all the time, and the seed fell from the mouth of a bird and slid inside, falling down. He frozen, defrost and rooted. Then, the tree grew through the crack, feeling a minimum sun, but finding refuge of the cold inside the darkness of the rock.
I am not a tree scientist, but I think any scenario is equally plausible. Then, anyway, this tree as a baby saw some real difficulty and persevered. Or divided a granite rock and bent down, or was consigned to live within the division and still made way for the light.
What I mean is that it is possible to find the light and divide the darkness. It is not easy. The darkness will always return, in cycles that can last a day or a month or four years or a generation. But life will bloom, even when light is not easily and constantly grouped, even when the little light must be actively sought.
What I mean is that a ponderosa seedling can do it, and maybe I can too, and you can probably also. Trust my friend, the bravest tree.
#word
