The Fruitful Tree

Did you see the news clip recently about the fruit tree that produces dozens of different varieties of fruit on one tree?  It seems like a cool idea & it got me thinking about how this might parallel potential solutions within everyday life. 

It would be indescribable to experience the miracle of cures to all 365’s as well as solutions to world problems that have been plaguing us for countless centuries like hunger, poverty, loneliness, isolation, abuse, violence, depression, hatred, selfishness, hopelessness & so many more.  If wishes grew on trees like the one that bears much fruit, I would place each one of these wishes for cures & miracles upon each branch & grow it in my backyard if I could.  We will & do see & affect change within the world around us every day by what we choose to give within our small corners of the world daily.  When we choose to give gentleness, kindness & to welcome others within our corner of the world we grow something pretty magnificent.  During those times when we literally or figuratively grab hold of someone who is struggling & let them know they matter it makes a beautiful difference.  Let’s think about those moments when we have received unexpected kindness when we so desperately needed it.  It may have been in the form of gentle words or a hug the stuffing out of you hug.  Maybe it was as simple as a smile from someone that you know or had never met before & it was a kind smile that was within the person’s eyes.  It was the type of smile that let you know with all certainty that the other person truly saw you & was just being kind with no expectation of anything in return. This is pure love known as loving for sake of other.   Perhaps you had a challenging day & sent out gruffness into the world & you received patience & understanding instead of gruffness in return.  Maybe someone took the time & interest to check in on you & could see straight through a façade that others could not & saw your feelings of hurt or frustration or isolation.  It could be that you received a piece of old fashioned mail out of the blue that brought a smile to your face.  How about if someone took the time to stir in some love to a homemade meal for you?  Maybe that touched your heart & gave you the night off from the kitchen.  Best of all you felt cared for.  I will say that when any of those things or other acts of kindness enter into my life I feel like I might burst if I did not pass on extra kindness to someone else.  It just feels like the most natural thing in the world.  There are no words big enough to say how grateful I am as well for the battle buddies that are in my life that are so encouraging especially on those not great days with type 1 diabetes.  The great thing about a circle of real deal friends is that when one of us is having a hit it out of the park day & another person is having a beaten down day, we all share in the ups & downs.  We lift one another up & we are lifted up by one another.  I know what it feels like to try to go it alone with diabetes & it makes me incredibly grateful to have Dear Heart battle buddies. 

For the tree that I imagine growing that bears much fruit in my backyard in addition to cures & miracles other branches would include inventions & maybe some whimsical ideas as well.  Let’s take diabetes for example.  If we are stuck realistically with diabetes (while we are growing older waiting for a cure) then for sure we want the gold standard in devices in the meantime.  Managing diabetes is exhausting to say in the least.  I will say with fervor that I am sick & tired of glucose meters.  I would like to have my finger tips back again so to speak without thousands of puncture marks all over them.  Where the heck is that watch that I have heard about for over 5 years that supposedly is non evasive & continuously reads blood sugar levels.  That would take away the need for many things if it were available & worked reliably.  Imagine, no more glucose testing or continuous glucose devices (if we have those) as well as blood all over clothing, counters, bedside tables, and well anything else.  The things that I usually have the largest blood spatters on at any given time are my glucose meters & especially my night time meter.  My night time meter needs windshield wipers I have decided.  The watch I think would be the bee’s knees with all the bells & whistles & as a bonus to be able to program it with our own variety of responses & messages would be cool.  For instance, instead of a piercing beep & the current message popping up when I get a 3.4 of “hypoglycemia, eat 15 grams of fast acting sugars” I might program it to say, “now is your chance to eat that packet of delicious bunny gummies” or “for the love of Pete drink only 1 juice box & don’t even dream about polishing off a bag of bbq chips!”  Also, instead of the message “hypoglycemia” a message of “don’t panic honey, you’ve got this; just eat those gummies” would be preferable.  Maybe I would program in “time to drink most of Lake Ontario” with high blood sugar readings.  For sure for those rare beauties of 5.5 (99 in U.S.) I would receive programmed compliments like “this number rocks big time” or “that is one good looking number & by the way you’ve never looked better” or “celebration time.”  There are countless messages that I would program in & they would not be as agitating as the standard messages that pop up right now.  The silly thing about my meter is that it only berates me for the highs & lows & remains silent for the in range numbers.  I think I would program in songs to play when my blood sugars are in range like “It’s a beautiful day” or something else.  If a correction worked & got me back into range, I would program in “Tubthumping” which always seems to motivate me when diabetes has me fighting the odds.  Maybe the watch could also include some sort of non violent gizmo that had the ability to prevent people within our radius from saying crazy things to us like, “you have the bad kind, you got that from eating too much sugar, haven’t you grown out of that juvenile diabetes yet or here, have a sugar free cookie or chocolate bar.  (Ew!)  It could be like the invisible fence for dogs that is out there & it would corral people & keep them a safe distance away so that we don’t have to listen to the nonsensical myths that are out there about type 1 diabetes.

There would be just plain fun stuff that would grow on the tree as well.  For sure crispy bacon with fried potatoes would be there calorie & cholestral free & full of tastiness because hey, it’s my tree & my rules ha ha.  The tree would bear fruit & fruit blossoms all year long.  Best of all, this tree in my imagination would be for sharing.  If someone needed a friend, a hug, inspiration, strength, comfort or anything at all in the world, it would all be on this tree ready for sharing.

While we don’t have this type of imaginary tree, we do have one another.  We have the ability to bring something of light to the world around us.  We can build one another up & squash out division.  We get to encourage & comfort one another.  We get to be kind first.  We get to choose not to remain silent when important words will make a difference to others.  We get to stand up for what is right.  We get to stand up for one another.  We get to be kind to one another regardless of what is going on around us & how others are choosing to behave.  You may not have realized it yet so I want to tell you that the world is better because you are here.  Yes it is.  You have your own razzle dazzle or spark that is all your own.  Shine that everywhere.

My heart’s hope for you is that you choose bravery over mediocrity or indifference by being the real deal in this world.  Sometimes the world is upside down & inside out so reach for a touchstone that is timeless, truthful & good.  You have all that inside of you already.  Yes you do.

Smiles, Saundie

May your week ahead be filled with incoming & outgoing acts of kindness.  Be brave, be yourself, be kind.  That is already within you so send it out boldly.  I know you will.  Next Monday’s story is either going to be something that is still in the creative ether or one that I have already written called, “Defying the Odds or Life Without a Container.”  xo