When we moved into our home in Maui, Hawaii, 16 years ago, one good thing about this house was the huge avocado (牛油果) tree growing in the backyard.
This tree gave the most delicious avocados I have ever tasted. I lived on these avocados when nursing my first child. Fresh avocado was the very first food for my kids. This tree was so huge that it cast a massive shadow over our backyard. It was truly our magical tree.
Until one day, someone from the Health Department came to tell us that our avocado tree was too large and needed trimming (修剪). In New York, you get in trouble if you don't clear the snow off your sidewalk. Here, it's when your trees are too high. So along came the trimmer, leaving just the trunk and a few branches. I was sad. The kids were all sad. Some friends who knew it would say," "It's going to grow back. Your next avocados will be crazy!" Yeah, whatever. The tree is gone, so stop doing that. It just didn't work.
But a few days later, I noticed some unusual butterflies flying around the yard. And then, the sun came in the kitchen, creating this pleasant warmth once blocked by the huge tree. After about a month, I started to notice some tiny green shoots coming out of the cut branches, which eventually turned into full-on bright green leaves.
I started to feel like all was going to be fine, kind of like life. Little do we know what seems really difficult is actually life's way of making us stronger. It's life's way of bringing in the butterflies, the sunshine, and the delightful flowers. We all know that saying, "It will be OK in the end. If it's not, it's not the end."
