My tree

I wish I could remember how old I was when I walked into the woods behind my house with my Grandma and Grandpa and dug up the tiny tree that would one day grow up to be this beautiful tree. I know I was pretty young and always up for an adventure. I do remember that walk very clearly though. I remember my grandpa using the shovel to gently get the fragile sapling out of the ground. And I remember replanting it just beside the old block chicken house that Grandma stored her potatoes and onions in. And I remember being very proud. Maybe I thought I was saving it from a life of being undiscovered. But for whatever reason I thought I had really accomplished something important. I still have a feeling of accomplishment every day when I drive by "my tree" and see how it has grown into something amazing. I also get a flood of other emotions along with it. Love, happiness, contentment...

That tree makes me smile every time I look at it because I remember two people who loved me enough to do simple things like plant trees. Simple things that have done more than make lasting impressions on my life. My grandma and grandpa never spent money on anything. Anything! But they taught me that money doesn't buy happiness. Happiness is in the little things. Like planting trees.