Writing Prompt: A Nature-Inspired Reflection from the Past Week

A few years ago, a gorgeous dogwood tree in the communal backyard of my living complex had to be cut down to make way for the construction workers who had been hired to rip down our dilapidated old porches and construct new ones. This saddened me because the tree really was beautiful, especially in the spring, and because it wasn’t impinging on the additional space that would be taken up by the expanded porches. Rather, it was simply in the way of the machinery needed to do all the work.

But while the majority of the tree had been cut down and removed, the trunk remained and pretty much immediately it began sending up new shoots, branches, and spring blossoms. Granted, it all looked a little higgledy-jiggledy at first, but the persistent new growth each year was encouraging.

Jump ahead to this spring, 2024, and it looks pretty much like a normal tree. If you didn’t inspect it too closely, you’d never know it had been chopped down just a few short years ago. I’m grateful to once again be able to drink in the beauty of Mother Nature represented by this dogged dogwood tree.