Beyond the landscaping of our first home was a dense thicket. Walking through the thicket was slow work, and my path was often determined by the wild brush, scrambling shrubs, and young trees.
Oh! There were trees in the thicket that were overcome with vines and tall grass such that I could not see them until I walked into the thicket. Whenever I discovered a tree, I would carefully liberate it from the feral things that were swallowing it whole.
I would work this way, a couple hours at a time, until I walked back to the house exhausted, dirty, and scratched. Imagines of sharp thorns from multiflora rose monoliths would persist when I closed my eyes. When I slept, vines would infiltrate my dreams.
I rescued 29 trees that summer: trees I did not know needed to be freed until I ventured into the dense thicket, trees I didn’t know I could save until I saved them.
As we walk deeper into our inner wild places, may we discover the beautiful trees, perhaps covered in vines, that await us. Trees that we can save.