Baby Tree

I used to visit the baby tree every day when I was little. It wasn’t like the other trees. It wasn’t big or strong nor did it have lots of lovely leaves. It looked sad all the time maybe because it was different. It was like me, I was sad all the time. We were the same. I was taken away from my tree when I was three. I remember feeling lost without it. It always listened to me. No one listened to me anymore. Over the years I had little time to think about the tree. I had my own problematic life. A few weeks ago, I was walking by the tree, my tree. I remembered thinking this tree was the embodiment of me. I remember how my younger self compared herself to people or things so she would feel less alone. Although this tree was connected to a very difficult time in my life, I found myself smiling at it. In retrospect this tree helped me navigate the daily torture of my life. However, when I look at it now it doesn’t look like my tree, it’s bigger, more beautiful. It now has all the lovely green leaves the others have. The new branches it has developed make it look so much stronger. It’s just like all the others. Then it hit me, the tree has grown, it has grown up just like me.  I am smiling because this tree has grown into something beautiful, it has become so much more than its roots. Suddenly its leaves are the greener than the others. It’s the most exquisite tree I’ve ever seen. The best part, the best part is it’s not even done growing yet. It has so much more time to become something more than it already is. It was at this point I realised that this tree might actually be the embodiment of me.  This tree gave me so much hope and determination. This tree will always be my role model. That day I made a promise to the tree, to my three-year-old self. I promised to become something more than the seed that was planted for me and I swore that my roots wouldn’t define my life. As I grow up I know that this tree will grow with me. I know every time I see that tree it will have grown so much more than the time before and I know I will too.  

Words by Nicole Sim.