There’s a beautiful red maple tree in our yard. It stands vibrantly and serenely about 30 feet high—now. But it wasn’t always that way.

My mom and dad gifted the maple to us as a small young tree about 25 years ago. Nobody would have predicted that this modest, crimson sapling would survive the challenges it has faced in its many years, for it was planted in its burlap bag so that its roots grew tightly wrapped around its trunk. Yet it has survived.

Not only has it survived, but it has flourished, bringing resilience, beauty, shade, wisdom, and love into our lives. Like my mom, who survived numerous challenges in her life, the tree has survived the many odds stacked against it.

While the remarkable tree still stands, after her long life, my mom has passed away. Yet even in her final days, like the maple tree, my mom shared profound lessons in resilience, beauty, wisdom, and love. Mom was still getting up and walking until just a few weeks before she died, when, for the first time, she fell down and just couldn’t get back up.

Until those moments,........

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