Her Heaven is a Pear Tree

Sitting there, looking out, she felt a peace she could never quite attain anywhere else she seemed to find herself. She was always adrift, landing wherever the world led her. The people around her were like the waves, rocking her life back and forth, leading her from one task to another, sidetracking her from her goals and leading her astray from the path she had set out on, determinedly. So she’s always grasping, grasping for something to ground her, reaching for a person or a place that will tether her back to the ground so that she can strive for her dreams again. Caroline has always been one to have her head in the clouds, always dreaming, but she knows that as precious as this time is, to make it all worthwhile, she must also have her feet on the ground, so she’s able to make strides toward the world she envisions for herself. Dreaming without action only ends in misery and disappointment of chances not taken and wishes unfulfilled.

Knowing all this, Caroline comes here as often as she feels able. Once she found this place, under the pear tree, she knew she would need to return here frequently. The first time she sat herself down underneath this tree, she felt her new home form. Once this connection was established, she became rooted here. Just like the first time she was grounded under these branches, each time she arrives back at this place, she is whole again. She found herself here. She had been lost for quite some time.

The day of this genesis, she sat up against the trunk, under the branches, feeling the pulse of the lifeforce of the tree within her soul until sunset, watching the burning of all that came before. She sat in the stillness of the darkness - which always comes before the light - until the new day was illuminated by the first rays of daybreak. It was wholly cleansing. It is a moment that has lived within her heart since and the way that it has shaped her cannot be overstated.

She has spent many hours coming back down to earth here. The sound of the leaves in the breeze is the most soothing sound on the planet to her. The rustling erases bit by bit the anxiety that builds up within her when she’s out in the world surrounded by all the static and all the noise. Caroline never ceases to be warmed by the shade that this large oxygen-producing plant provides. It envelops her in a blanket that can’t be taken away by anyone out there or any bad thing that happens elsewhere. This private existence belongs to none. It is simply something that Caroline and the pear tree are blessed to share.

Since that fist sunset, this location has served as her place to experience many similar occasions. The sun has gone down on many previous aspects of her life as she witnessed passively through the branches, while silently, she had been the architect of these beautiful revelatory moments from their beginnings. She had to watch the sun burn so many old days, countless outdated ways of her old life had to be left behind, actively forgotten, to make room for what was coming next.

It didn’t happen overnight. This moment was many prior moments in the making. She had a focus on trying to forget, on shedding and releasing for so long; it’s a relief to finally shift to the stage of replacing, collecting, and remembering who she is. Today, as Caroline patiently waits for the sun to slowly climb above the horizon, making its way to its place as the star of the show that the new day will be, she thinks about the many difficult moments she has pushed through to get to this hard-earned place of tranquility. She takes a deep breath in and lets go of all the weight her past has shackled her with all these years. Just as she releases both the air and the weight of it all, she sees the eastern horizon begin to glow with the ever so slightest golden lining. As the fire spreads and the entirety of the east begins to burn, the pear tree, sensing it’s the right time to let go as well, drops a finally-ripened pear down into her lap. She almost laughs before she realizes this moment is no coincidence and she appreciates the connection. Silently, she thanks the tree and enjoys the fruits of her labor.