“Do you want to go back?” he asks me one summer afternoon.
We were strolling through a park at the time.
I knew my husband wasn’t asking about returning to our flat. Back to our teenage son who passed on a walk with his parents.
“I could stay here a long time. It’s completely up to you and our boy whether we head back to Sydney or not.”
“I don’t know,” I respond. “I’m having a fantastic time in London. It’s such an incredible city. There’s so much still to experience! But there are times I really miss Australia.
“I don’t think about Sydney much these days. But then there are sudden moments when I miss people and places we’ve left behind. And I want to get back there that instant.”
We walk on for a bit. Our feet crunch on gravel stones as the path winds through the trees.
“Did you know there’s a gum tree in this park?” my husband asks just when I started to think of all things “home”.
“No. Is there?”
“Yes, I’ll take you to it.”
And there it was. In the middle of a beautiful English park with its trees that changed with the seasons. A thriving eucalyptus tree.
“It must have been there a while. The trunk is quite big,” I say.
“You do know there are gum trees all over the world, don’t you? They can survive outside Australia,” he responds.
“Yeah, but those are our trees. They’re native to Australia,” I reply.
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6 responses to “The gum tree”
I brought over a small bottle of eucalyptus oil with me. I think the same of gum trees and home.
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That was great thinking! 😁
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Nice metaphor.
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Ha! Thank you. It’s funny how things just happen that way.
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As a teen I once was lucky enough to hear Madeline L’Engle speak. Someone was asking about metaphors in her Wrinkle in Time series and she said that they often happen organically. I was struck by that comment and never forgot it. Since then I often have found it to be true in my own life!
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That would have been an amazing experience! Good advice to keep our eyes open and observe the things that go on around us 😁
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