THE BLUE SPRUCE

Now, nobody knows where the blue spruce came from. Some say the seed came in on the wing of a winter robin. Still others believe it blew in with the cold northern winds. Maybe some person just planted the seed for the blue spruce.

Not only that, when you plant a fingerling for a tree, you really don't even notice that it's there. It's just like a little weed. Well, first it was a little fingerling and then slowly it started to grow. And it started to get noticed because there was a blue spruce.

Now, what's interesting about a blue spruce is that it's blue. And I don't just mean blue, it's pungent blue, deep blue. And not only that, when it's growing, the outermost parts of the tree become frost like almost white. So you got this white blue. And imagine seeing that in a field of evergreen, deep dark green, evergreen, and then popping out is this blue white tree. It would be an understatement to say it's quite stunning.

Well, there it was in the middle of this meadow in Stellacum Park, a large meadow that was on the way to most every walk, trip, race, and so it was easy to spot. Now, that by itself, seeing this striking blue, blue white tree with a field of deep green and and brown meadow below it. You can imagine how striking it was. And so it started to grow foot by foot, year after year.

Now, that would be the end of the story, except that's now how it really happened. Now, mind you, the story is based upon true events. Nothing's made up. Nothing's exaggerated. This is how it was.

So, one day, Mrs. Johnson was taking her daily walk, and she found a knit mitten, one one mitten. And she thought to herself, "Somebody's lost their mitten." And so what did she do? She just without thought hung it right on that blue spruce, thinking so many people went by the blue spruce. And not only that, that's where she found it. So, it would be highly likely that the person who lost it might go by there the next day or days later and find her missing mitten.

And that's how it started. People passerbys would put lost objects, things of interest on the blue spruce. It became sort of um a Cracker Barrel like in the old days at the the the store that everybody went to, a place they could talk around, tell stories around, and it became a community center. And so it was not uncommon to see many different things hung around or on the Blue Spruce.

And around Christmas time, something really unique and I think wonderful happened. Mr. Johnson had an old DVD, you know, the silver type, and he hung one on there. And then someone else seeing it hung another Christmas ornament. And then someone else still other Christmas ornaments until before you knew it the whole little tree was decorated.

Now that would be the end of the story except that's not how it happened at all. So every year it became a tradition that it became a community spot that everyone took in their heart as their own their own little blue spruce. And at Christmas every year it was decorated. It was truly a very special and organic. Not just a tree being organic, but the evolution of the community and the spirit of the blue spruce organically grew within that community of people. No one said, "Let's meet." No one said, "Let's put lost items." No one said, "Let's decorate the blue spruce." It just happened organically. It just happened. I swear this is the way it really was.

Now that would be the end of the story. Except that's not how it happened. So it grew taller and taller until it was a grand blue pungent blue spruce tree over 12 feet high. I might even say without exaggerating maybe it was more like 15 ft high and every Christmas it got decorated more ornaments and it was more striking because once again you got to picture wintertime the brown dark brown field that it popped up by itself. I mean, the only I don't mean popped up, but the only thing popping out of that brown uh area of of brown grass with an evergreen forest in the background. You could see that pungent blue, white blue spruce, and it was striking. You could spot it on the hillside clear across the field. That's how striking it was. And on a frosty day, the frost glistened on the blue and white or in a foggy day. It once again glistened and was unique. No matter what the weather, every weather brought a new look, a new wonder of that blue spruce.

Now, we could say that's how the story ended. And I will confess to you when I told this story as a bedtime story to my daughter when she was quite young and now she has uh and I have grandkids of my own. Uh that would have been the story that I told exactly like that the story of the blue spruce and that would have been the end of the story. But that's not how it happened because a fierce fire, a forest fire came through and burned that whole field for acres and acres and it was burning right up to that green forest. The fire was raging around that blue spruce. Sticking up above the fire was the blue spruce hanging on for its life, hanging on for that community identity, being the spirit of that community. The fire raged and raged and helicopters were brought in from far away where they dipped into the nearby Lake Louise pulling out the water and bringing it over and dumping it air helicopter by helicopter onto those uh burning fields. When everything cleared, it was a wasteland, a burnt black ruined wasteland. But popping out of that moon like field was the blue spruce standing there by itself.

Now you might ask the question, I'll ask the question, is it still alive? Surely the blue spruce live through the immaculate, the immortal blue spruce because that's how everyone felt it should be. It should be. It should be like that. And then one day, the tree just fell over. The rot that had been dead for a number of years. And then finally, the rot from the base caused it to fall over. I mean, just collapse. And there it's sat. You would have thought surely somebody would just take it and move it away, but they didn't. The tree just lied there. You could see the base where it it had cracked apart and fell. And then somebody with stone and pieces of wood made a cross. A cross showing the death of the blue spruce. The death of the hope, the death of the community that that blue spruce represented. And no one dared move it. The cross was there. the deceased rotting blue spruce was there.

Now, some would say, "Well, that's the end of the story." But that's not the way it happened at all. I swear this is true. That is not the way it ended. Somewhere somehow somebody planted a baby blue spruce. It was about maybe 3 feet tall, maybe four. Right there next to the cross and right there next to the deceased rotting spirit of the blue spruce.

Now, this Christmas, I was walking by and there it was, the growing, thriving young blue spruce with all the Christmas ornaments on it, just like before.

Now, some could argue, but it's not the same. It's not our blue spruce. It's not the one we nurtured, loved, walked by every day, cared about, and cared for. The cross represents the death of that blue spruce and the death of what we had.

Now, that would be the end of the story, but that's not how it was at all. You see the spirit of the blue spruce was in all of us. The belief in community, the belief that we can come together, the belief that the spirit of who we are was embodied in that blue spruce. And as long as you are and I are there and we uphold the spirit of caring and the spirit of the blue spruce, that blue spruce lives on. And even to this day, you can go by and see the little blue spruce growing day by day. And most important, we know if there's a wind that blows it over or a storm or a fire that burns it, no matter the blue spruce and the spirit of the blue spruce will never die. Because as long as we in the community share our community, share our friendship, and share our camaraderie, the spirit of the Blue Spruce will live on. And that's exactly the way it happened.