I never knew trees could be that beautiful.

They sprawled over the hills, interrupted by meadows of tall grass and wildflowers. Green in a dozen different shades, moving in the wind, shimmering in the evening light… zooming past me as I rode the train across a few villages. I smile as I take in this beauty.

God, it seems so long since I’ve smiled.

There’re trees along the Neckar River too. I run past them, through them, around them. They stand as old guards for that river that saw the rise and fall of empires, but still keeps moving nonetheless. These trees shade the twenty Swans that make their home on the riverbed.

Those beautiful birds, constant reminders of my torn world. Mythologized by Americans, Demonized by Germans, they swim along their way and ask me what I’m trying to do by living in two worlds. Most of the time, I just smile back.

How did I get this far down? Yeah, it’s been hard. Of course sadness comes when you move across the world and try to start a new life. You just have to keep going, just another day.

The days turn into weeks. The weeks turn into months.

You start to forget that there was a time before the hardness. You start settling in, and like stories of stone giants, calcification comes. That which was once flexible takes on a sedentary nature, the heart of flesh with it.

But we are meant for more. The ever-waking world of spring turn summer whispers that through her evening light. Our very living context asks for more than settled lifestyle. The earth that we have been given to calls us out of patterned drudgery.

And when I feel like part of me is dying inside, the trees remind me that patience brings both roots that quench thirst and leaves that feel the sun again.

Coming sunshine is well worth smiling over.

There’s no need to wait to enjoy it.

Still Wandering,

Tony