Jillian here. It’s June already. Can you believe it? Time is going fast this year even with a lot of places locked down and folks staying home. You’d think that would mean time has slowed, but it seems like every time I turn around, it’s Thursday again.
June in my backyard means it’s hurricane season. There were two named tropical storms before June 1st which sometimes happens. The third storm, Christobal, hit the Louisiana and Mississipi coast this past weekend. We got some wind, rain and storm surge because of it. We’re about 2 hours from the Louisiana line and 1.3 from Mississippi, so when the storms hit there, we usually get some of it and vice versa.
We have this tree at the office that got struck by lightning a number of years ago in the middle and you can still see the stump of it inside. The cool thing is that the rest of the tree lived and thrived. I think I’ve blogged about it before here. It means a lot to me that this tree defied the odds and kept on going. It seems like our lives are that way. We get hit by bolts—sadness, illness, death of loved ones—yet we keep going. Our core may be hurting, but we keep blooming. Each time I look out my office window, I see that tree and think about it. I watched that lightning strike and worried about the tree, but it didn’t need my worry, it thrived without it.
Tropical storm Christobal did some damage to my little tree, but it’s still standing. We’ll clear away the debris and leave that lightning-struck core (Picture 4) and new growth as another reminder that when life’s storms come, we can weather them. Maybe not in a pretty way, but weather them we shall.
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Faye Avalon
Jane Smith
Kit Domino
Laurie Ryan
Lavada Dee
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Tricia Jones
Theresa Scott
Valerie J. Patterson
Over The Backyard Fence 
A good lesson and reminder in that tree. Thanks for sharing it with us Jillian.
Thanks Lavada. The tree def. is a lesson on how to survive. I admire nature so much.
What a stout little tree. And a great reminder that there’s life beyond storms. Thank you for the uplifting post. Makes me smile thinking of your tree. You’ll have to send us yearly pics now, you know. 🙂
This tree makes me smile, too. Glad it brightened your day. And I will send updated pics. I also have a huge oak at home that was struck by lightning in hurricane Ivan in 2004. For about three years after, it had no acorns and we lost our squirrel population, but it bounced back too and all our little squirrels came back for new acorns. It has a huge scar but it also is resilient and I love it. I’ll have to post a pic of it.
Thought-provoking and uplifting post, Jillian. And it, too, brought a smile to my face. A valuable lesson for everyone there. I shall think of that little tree now every time life and nature throw another thunderbolt in my direction. 🙂
Thanks Kit. I do think it has a great lesson for us all. We can take a beating, but we need to keep pushing forward and thriving. Jillian
“Our core may be hurting, but we keep blooming.” I absolutely LOVE that! Thanks for the photos and for a very insightful post, Jillian.
Thanks Faye, I’m glad you liked it. Every time I look at that battered tree, I am reminded we can all be that resilient if we try. Jillian