The Old Tree

 

The View From Forty-Two  -  Sarah Piazza
  written in 2010

Mommy! My son exclaimed Just the other day: You look like A tree! — and He chortled, then, At the offense: This green shirt, Those brown pants. I was delighted.

When I am old I hope the boy, Grown to man, sees Value In weathered skin Like bark, In hair so white It might cap Even rogue waves, In ropy-veined legs Working overtime, Bulging, and blushing, With dedicated effort.

And all that day I felt strong. Rooted. Proud, to provide Shade, and a moment Or two to contemplate For a wanderer Who might weep, grateful, To find me sturdy, To find me Still.

 

Way back when blogs were popular, Sarah wrote and posted this. At the time, I was 68, with a seven-year-old grandkid, and this poem spoke to me in a way that the author and the other young mothers in the blog ambiance could not relate to in the same way. I was backing up my daughter in caring for her daughter, looking after the child when that was needed. My other daughter was working overseas, in a job with a lot of stress, and calling on me to manage something she could not here, although only rarely. And, yes, I was proud to be in their lives, to be a convenience. Sturdy. Yes.

These same words curl into my conscious thought now so differently. If I once provided shade, I am now shaded, generously, often. Both my daughters live in the city near us and they check on us, carefully, thoughtfully, often. They do things for us that need doing. They are a great and continuing help for the parents whose skin has weathered, hair turned fine and white as foam on a breaker, legs ceased to work well anytime.  For whom just living is an effort.

I am so grateful for them. For them to be here for us. For all that I know they will do, willingly, cheerfully, until they no longer find me. 

Words, words, words.

 

On Monday, we went to an event where both a candidate for our federal riding and the incumbent of another nearby riding were on hand for a meet-and-greet event. The incumbent got up to say a few words and by the time these words were finished, I was very unimpressed. What I heard was the same descriptor used at least five times in as many sentences. And the descriptor was one of those useless ones that should never be employed as positives. My memory being what it is, the exact word has now escaped me, but it was one of ‘amazing’ or "awesome' or ‘incredible’. The welcome received, the candidate’s quality, the food and ambiance of the venue, the importance of the time, all were ‘incredible’. It annoys me greatly when such a descriptor is used once, but the repetition was, if you will excuse my saying so, amazingly very annoying.

I really wished that I had had a thesaurus to hand, to use to whack this person.

For those of you who are not ancient English teachers, ‘amazing’ as defined in the Oxford dictionary, means causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing. Similar words include; astonishing, astounding, surprising, bewildering. Stunning, staggering, shocking, startling, stupefying, breathtaking, perplexing, confounding, dismaying, disconcerting, shattering, awesome, awe-inspiring, sensational, remarkable, spectacular, stupendous, phenomenal, prodigious, extraordinary, incredible, unbelievable, wonderful, marvelous, thrilling, exciting, mind-blowing, flabbergasting, dumbfounding. A second and informal usage is startlingly impressive.

Please note that this meeting, while having enough people so that the seats were mostly filled, was not in any way outstanding, let alone spectacular. The candidate, a pleasant and qualified person, was not, for sure, breathtaking. The food was okay. The meeting time was not the best choice, really, as we were called together over the supper hour. As I think about it, the speaker may have called all of these things ‘awesome’, as that is another descriptor that is getting badly overused these days.

People who are elected as our representatives should, clearly, be prepared to speak to a group, both formally and informally. The verb ‘prepare’ is the key here. I came away convinced that the speaker was either careless or out of their depth. Not what you would want in a member of Parliament. I found the speech literally, if you will excuse me, marvelous.