SUCCESS DEPENDS ON THE SUPPORT OF OTHERS

Saturday evening as I sat and enjoyed a glass of wine with my neighbors/friends--Jean & Charlie ... we talked about the day, the tree etc. and then Jean thought this motivational message from the Daily Guru which she'd just gotten on her Blackberry, made sense of and for the day. I like what it says and believe in it's message.

----
Think in terms of what the other person wants.

You can get anything you want in life
if you're willing to help enough other people get what they want.

The only hurdle between you and what you want to be
is the support of others.

Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement,
all success, all achievement in real life grows.

You cannot hold a torch to light another's path
without brightening your own.
----

That day, Charlie spent the entire day helping me in my grief--shining a light on my path...

Charlie had come over late in the week to discuss trees he thought might be a good choice for our back yard...I was not looking forward to much of that decision...so we looked at various types in a book and cried and hugged as we spoke of what it means to plant this tree. Then on Saturday we started out at about noon-heading to the nursery to look at trees available. We sought out and found the perfect one. When we first arrived, we saw about 6 trees that were of the types we talked about earlier in the week...3 were the European Beech-but were already tagged for sale. We walked around the entire lot looking at others we'd not discussed, and as we were walking toward the exit thinking about driving to the 2nd nursery over an hour away, we see the lone Tri-Color European Beech next to the rose bushes and shrubs...no where near the other trees...we looked it over and decided--that's the one. We got it loaded in the truck, picked up the bob-cat and then unloaded it at the house.

My gentle giant neighbor Dar came over to help out...we talked about where to place it just off the patio and then the digging began...Charlie, a professional landscaper, knew exactly what needed to be done. Even though it was a perfect day in the 70's with a nice breeze, he worked up a sweat and needed little help to get it in the ground--we would have just been in the way. I pitched in in clearing the sod/grass and that's about all we could do. So at about 4:04 it was planted and we had a beer to celebrate (my first beer at the house in 31 weeks.) Charlie only thought of what I wanted that day...what type of tree, regardless of any set budget...it needed to be right-and he knew that. He wanted to make sure I was getting this done in the way I wanted...and it was. His support that day allowed me to enjoy the moment of planting vs. enduring any real sorrow or pain...it was a joyful moment. My relationship with him, with those who bought the tree and with those who stopped by to see it that day are indeed the fertile soil that helps me grow and succeed.