Sandy Grabner says:

The tree. Looking like an umbrella, ready to protect small creatures from the weather. Trees. Growing one with the earth and each other. Giving life. Watching humanity and all of its egregious actions to one another and the planet. Sometimes crying when man begins to clear another forest. Perhaps MAN will learn that the trees give life. To walk among the trees is a truly religious activity. The wind blowing through their leaves. The birds singing. The animals taking sustenance from their fruits. The trees-man’s link to life.

Julie says:

Mike’s son stared at the bonsai. For years his father had made it his routine to remove the tree from its table and place it in the shed as soon as he came downstairs in the morning. His father didn’t like the little tree. Every morning Mike’s mother, right after breakfast, would go out to the shed and bring her bonsai back to its table. But Mike noticed that since his mother’s death the tree stayed on the table. “I thought you hated that tree? Why keep it?” With a wistful look Mike replied, “No point in moving it anymore.”