Tree of Life

My ghost writer has taken a liking to writing something for Fridays and I really have to say that I look forward to both reading it and having a day off. This is almost like working, except for the salary part. I have yet to make up the short-comings there. So, live from an ampitheatre in NWO, Lady of the Lake:

Friday again……. That means it is time for my weekly “familytreefriday” entry.

Today I feel like the proverbial “kid-in-a-candy-store”; faced with so much choice and unable to make up my mind. Which one to feature? Eeny-meeny-miney…

So, facing this dilemma, I ordain to speak in generalities about trees in general, and family trees in particular. It is a perfect analogy, don’t you think: the similarities between the structure of a tree and the structure of a family ? A Tree of Life .

I am constantly amazed when I ponder the way family trees spread and grow. My own little family, which began as four, has now expanded to a wonderful nine-count of heads.

The branches get longer and produce their own off-shoots, which continue to grow and do likewise. Like the large, beautiful old white pine in our yard, its girth expands with each added year, as the limbs continue to add smaller shoots. Occasionally, we find a broken branch; and those which have out-lived their time, fall, inevitably to the ground. Some of the boughs have been untimely severed from the tree through lightning bolts or strong winds, but the tree itself, remains intact, firmly rooted in the earth.

Through the marvel of genealogy research, I attempt to recall some of the countries of origin within our family tree. There are many which we know and probably many which we will never know. England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Croatia, to name a few. Some lands were warm and sunny; some ancient and steeped in history; yet we all ended up in this very young country of Canada, living in the land of ice and snow. “our home and native land…” The sagas which describe our ancestors’ voyages to Canada and the reasons they all left their homelands, are diverse: I’m sure we will never find the truths in some of these tales; just as we may never know the truth of some parentage issues. But does it really matter? The tree stands.

What if you were a man, preceded in death by two wives; having no descendants; no children to whom you may leave a legacy of knowledge, love , memories ? Does your tree now fall ? Is it loped off at the trunk; pulled out by its roots ? What purpose did your 90+ years on earth have if not to leave a trace, a footprint as evidence of your passage ?

I dedicate this epistle to such a man, who died on May 7th, 2008 and left his traces and memories only to an “adopted” family.

signed, the willow for the Lady of the Lake