I don’t know about you but the word Transform or the phrase “This person experienced a transformation” seem to be popping up a lot lately. Me being me I used to be open to this concept but also a tad skeptical. Can someone really transform? Can that really happen?
So a little story for you. Grab a cuppa tea and let’s chat.
18 years ago my Dad died suddenly and in his honour I bought a Dogwood tree, as that was his favourite tree, and fairly much daily he and I would go explore and hike with dogs together. I put his ashes under the tree and planted it with great care and surrounded it with all the herbs and flowers he loved.
5 years after that my youngest was born. So in his honour and celebration I bought a plum tree and put the placenta underneath it when it was planted. Both trees grew happily, healthily and strongly until the goats got out. Now if you don’t know anything about goats, they will eat almost anything! In fact I have seen them eat tin cans and tires!
Thus, one day the goats busted out of their pen when no one was around and they did an amazing job on the dogwood and turned it into a small stump and then proceeded to have a good nibble on the plum tree. I carefully bandaged up the dogwood and the plum with hockey tape (as that was all I had), gave them lots of nutrients and hoped for the best.
11 years ago I moved from that property after an abusive marriage and there was no way I was going to leave those trees there. So I dug up the dogwood and all the dirt around it and under it, I also dug up the plum tree, wrapped its roots and soil in a sheet and took them both with me, along with my belongings and my kids. At our new home the kids and I dug a great big hole, and as I looked at this stump of a dogwood tree I decided it would be best to chop it up and put it and all its dirt into the hole and plant the plum tree on top. Which is what we did.
5 years later I noticed that the plum tree leaves were changing and no longer was it producing a gorgeous little plum or two. Odd. I took a good look at the leaves and couldn’t figure out what was happening to them – okay this is odd.
Very odd.
Over the next 4 years there were no plums, the leaves were totally different and there were no blossoms at all, but there was a sense of transformation. Then last year for the first time it blossomed, just a few mindst you. Whoot, whoot, plums again.
No.
The blooms were gorgeous but they were a dogwood flower! Excuse me? How, Why, What? I had and still have no clue.
Today, I walked outside and it was as if the tree exploded!
There are over 200 blooms on it and they are all dogwood flowers which have now become one of my most favourite flowers.
So if you ever doubt the capacity to transform, remember this tree.
If you ever doubt your strength to hold your center and BE, remember this tree (after all it was cut up and in a hole).
If you ever doubt your ability to blossom and thrive against all odds, remember this tree.
Happy transforming!
