So da odda day driving down da gravel road from our hale, suddenly I wen take one close look at da big Douglas fir tree dat stands down at da corna of da litto road.  Years ago, dis tree had one companion, one fir tree jass as big as him.  But when our naybahs wen build dea hale down dea, dey wen pile all da dirt from da excavation site ontop da roots of da old fir trees.  Auwe! Wat dey neva knew was dat dey wen cut off da oxygen from dat first fir tree, and litto by litto, it wen get sick; till finally it had to be cut down.  Ho, da wai maka dat day!  Hawks wen nest in dat tree, and now, nomo.

Bravely, da second tree, da one still dea, still stands.  But each yea it look moa worse.  Da hawks nest in da top branches doe, and I keep hoping dat dis tree going survive.  It has been part of my view foa almost 20 years now, and I love it.

Wat I wen notice da odda day, foa da first time, was how many pukas stay up da sides of dis old tree.  Is obvious dat all kine woodpeckers love it, and dat dey climb up da sides anden rat-a-tat-tat in da bark trying foa find bugs foa eat.

Some of da pukas stay reeyo deep.

Da sap leaks from da pukas, making da tree look like it’s crying. 

I look at da tree, dis surviva tree wit alla pukas.  And I no can help but think how some peeps lidat.  We stay scarred from life, and some of da scars stay reeyo deep and were painful wen dey wen happen.  Sometimes even now, we get tears running down our maka, jass like da tree. But still, we go on, trying foa live our lives as best we can, trying foa stand despite alla scars, despite alla pain in our past.

And while going on, living our lives, still we can nurture oddas travelling along dea own journeys.  Despite da damage, we can reach out wit hugs, oa words of comfort oa one simpo phrase like, “I care”.   Despite our own “puka”, we bravely go on, and by doing dat, we prove dat wateva wen happen to us neva wen destroy us.

We are true survivors, jass like da Puka Tree.

I salute us all.  Scars, pukas and all.