Family Trees

This post is a stretch for a horticulture therapy blog. But, I wanted to just take a moment to write about my thoughts concerning family trees... mine has considerably shrunk, though I really didn't know how shrunken it really was until lately. My mother's oldest relatives (the outer branches) have all passed on now with the latest departure of her Aunt Angie. Those branches of the "tree" were located in Michigan and continue to flourish there but are very distant from my immediate family.

My family tree has grafted itself to the state of Texas leaving a very small but determined branch of the tree here in PA. This "branch" of the Family Tree enjoys the weather here, enjoys working at a job that is fulfilling, and how the how the smaller branch from the PA branch has friends and a relatively decent public school.

This "branch" is majorly conflicted of the future causing a potential break in the foundation of the tree. The PA "branch" is connected to the main family tree... Always has been and always will be connected. But the PA branch is not sure whether it wants to be grafted by relocation to Texas. It will loose the happiness that it has with the smaller branch... and of course, will loose its peripheral friends in PA. The acreage in Texas is so large that the reality of finding employment close to the main branch of the family tree is unlikely so having to travel is inevitable anyways. The PA branch realizes that being so far from the Texas branch is problematic when storms arise, diseases, and pests. It loses the opportunity for fun opportunities with the main branch.

And my family tree isn't that large... kind of like this bonsai that I took a picture of last year at Longwood Gardens.