The Brown-Paper Notebook #1

As promised, the first of my entries from The Brown-Paper Notebook, my old journal I kept as a teenager and rediscovered earlier this week.  I'll save the cringe-worthy Love stuff for another week.  

I wrote in my notebook inspirational quotes, poems, my thoughts and feelings as well as short stories...

THE TREE

There was once a tree.  A tremendously beautiful tree.  A Tree that was so tremendously beautiful, not even a thousand artists could capture its beauty.  This Tree did not grow flowers, nor did it grow fruit.  It was however, home to a hundred birds who would sing each morning to thank The Tree for such a lovely home. 

The Tree sat alone upon a small hill and from where it stood it could hear the ocean, which lay not too far from The Tree’s small hill.  The birds had told The Tree about the ocean, it seemed so different to life up on the hill.  The smell of the ocean alone could sometimes drive the beautiful tree crazy.  

“Oh, why can’t I have wings like my friends the birds so I can fly above the ocean and see the beautiful creatures that live within.”

One day his friend The Wind came to visit the tree upon the small hill.

“I have some terrible news,” said The Wind.  “My cousin Storm is coming from across the ocean.  He is coming to visit you and is so jealous of your beautiful branches and the birds that sing to you each morning.  He has promised to rip you from the ground on your small hill and scatter your leaves in a million places.  You will survive, but you will never be as beautiful again.”

This frightened The Tree.  How terrible it would be to leave his small hill and his friends the birds.  He was scared of what was to come, but he would now be able to visit the Ocean and the Mountains and the Rivers.  Things only he had ever heard the birds talk of.

The next day The Storm came.  Tree was prepared for his journey.  He shut his eyes bravely and awaited the impact as the gusts and gales approached.  The vicious Storm ripped the Tree mercilessly from the hill.  A thousand raindrops pelted heavily on his leaves.  Ferocious lightning bolts struck his trunk smashing it into a million pieces. 

The Storm soon passed, leaving only a large hole where The Tree once stood.  Some time later, The Tree opened his eyes, his journey was over.  Parts of him had grown in a million beautiful places all over the world.  But the most beautiful place of all was next to a small beach.  The Tree was invisible to anyone who walked by and ignored its gnarled and knotted appearance, but the birds who sang to it every morning knew that this tree had become truly beautiful after its amazing journey.