The Listening Tree

In a land not too far from here, there was a girl who felt alone.  The loneliness was excruciating and she predicted that she wouldn’t last much longer.  She remembered the love of her life telling her that you could feel alone even when you were with someone. But she could not believe that.  All the couples at the beach were holding hands.  Surely that touch must be nice.  Surely that touch meant you weren’t alone.

Once the love of her life took her to tropical waters. He crouched underwater and signaled to place her feet on his shoulders. He’d propel her upwards and she was to dive gracefully into the water.  She thought she was not cut out for that move.  It was a move only pretty girls performed, perhaps cheerleaders, but not her. When she mounted his shoulders, she was afraid.  She felt his body rising up from the waters beneath her.  It was time to jump, but she hesitated and slipped off, kicking him in the face.

She wondered if the whole time she felt unworthy of his lifting her heavenward. Maybe that’s why it had all unraveled. 
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She closed her eyes and felt the tree trunk behind her.  The bark burrowed in the exposed skin of her neck and shoulders.  Its leaves rustled at her weeping.  Its roots bubbled up from the earth to hold her, the strength of its trunk like an old friend.
 
What a blessing these listeners are.  Miraculous gifts from God, these trees of ancient knowing.