OUR LOVELY OLD SEA GRAPE TREE

 

We love to walk on Honeymoon Island…where the shoreline meets the sea.

And no trip to Honeymoon Island would be complete 

without saying hello to our favorite tree.

She’s a lovely old sea grape tree…she’s not tall or regal or grand…

She’s kind of tiny and weathered but still stands proudly in the sand.

Every time we greet her she seems to have lost a little more of her form. 

No doubt because she’s been battered by the wind, the waves

and weathered by many a storm.

I suppose that’s one of the reasons I love this windswept, wrinkled 

and weathered old tree…

because in many ways when I look at her…she is a lot like me.

But after two hurricanes hit Honeymoon Island

when we were finally allowed back on…

to our dismay and sorrow…our lovely old sea grape tree…was gone.

After years of stopping to greet her…taking her picture

spending a moment or two together…

It seems our lovely old sea grape tree finally met a storm she could not weather.

Now when we set foot on Honeymoon Island

there will always be a touch of sorrow as we stop and say her name…

for now…no walk along her beach will ever be the same.

But she left us with a lesson…a message…that lovely old sea grape tree…

who for many years was there to greet us…but is now a memory.

How life is ephemeral and fleeting…

How we need to enjoy every moment we share together…

because there will come a time when, we too, will meet a storm we cannot weather,

That perhaps the best that we can hope for is to stand proud and tall…

and bring joy to others…before we become a memory…

So people will smile when they remember us…

Just like our lovely old sea grape tree.