I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that I have been thinking about what to write today, on the one year mark of losing Linds. And I will continue to. Fortunately for me, I have a twin who often times can verbalize what I can't when I can't. I woke up this morning to tears, but also to this story, written beautifully by Kelly.
The Foundation
Planting season. Two spry, lean yet forceful and noticeably promising trees. Planted so auspiciously close to one another as to leave no chance to miss the other's presence. Twigs really. A leaf here and there. Only when awarded ground did they both begin to grow. Spread their arms, sometimes towards one another; sometimes set in opposing directions. The gardener caught sight of their coexistence, their integration, their journey. Sometimes one blocking the wind, protecting against the elements for the other…and vice versa, as nature called. Nowhere to go but up for these sightly trees!!! Or so the gardener thought.
But wrong he was. See, while growing up together towards the sun, eager to make way into the serenity and vibrance of the plush green earth surrounding, they in fact were also stemming down. Towards the unseen and unobserved dense ground below, they rooted. With every day, they shared the same soil, embedded in the same patch. An unavoidable intertwining to the very core did both of these trees arrive at the same nucleus below. Unknown to the naked eye, they had formed a root so strong, it was indistinguishable from which tree every underpinning originated.
And so, one fateful day, a forester arrived and chopped down one of the trees. From the ground up. It fell. Day by day, each part of its trunk was dismantled, lay below its lively partner. Its leaves blowing away, fading into the distance. The gardener wandered by. Struck by the remarkable contrast. The difference. The separation of two figures making way to one seemingly lonely counterpart. Through the seasons, the remaining tree was tested. Bearing harsher sun, sustaining stronger storms, struggling through longer days.
But alas, what the gardener didn't see was the impenetrable network below the ground. The strength, the depth, the reach of the immeasurable time spent building below, that which will never be disrupted. And so, with each passing day, despite the gardner's expectations, the lively tree continued to sprawl, continued to grow. Not at a loss for the presence of its partner, but rather at a swifter pace, due to the power vested and combined, dedicated fully to its fruition.
One year later, the gardener takes sight. He notices the tree, unrivaled by any other in the garden. He noticed it had a few missing branches, from when it blows in the wind, unprotected anymore by the tangible companionship of its neighbor. But it didn't take long to observe, it was taller than the other trees, bore richer fruit, and brighter leaves. And he stood beneath its reach, with his feet settled hard on the ground below. And he looked to the neighboring and empty patch and felt the aura, permeating from the core, through the roots, up through the ground, into the air, the branches, the leaves, flowing above to the sun and clouds above; the foundation.
