And Then There Were Two

This morning I went to do my usual vacuuming when I spotted tiny black dots all over the floor. I called my husband into the room and the investigation began. The dots were little bugs that appeared to be dead. Husband gets out the magnifying glass and they were moving their tiny legs. The bugs were strewn around the Xmas tree. Oh no. My beautiful little tree was infested with something.

The investigation moved to the tree branches with an iPhone flashlight.

There it is. Right in the middle of the picture. Some kind of wood tick or aphid was living in my tree.

Three days til Xmas and we had to take down our tree. Go back to Home Depot and get our money back. Shop for an artificial tree when there are almost none left. Found one in K-Marts. It's 7.5 feet tall as opposed to my perfect little six footer. Oh well, on December 21 one cannot be too picky. The children are coming for the hoilday week and we need a tree.

We buy the big tree and hurry home. Now comes the extensive spraying and cleaning and steam mopping after removing the old tree. We decided not to take the lights off of it to minimize any more creatures dropping out of it. Husband had a good idea. He said, “Since it has lights on it, let's just put it outside and plug it in.” I was happy with that idea – I loved this little tree and wasn't ready to let it go.

After moving the little tree to its new outdoor home, we unboxed and set up the new one. Two thirds of it was up and I was almost in tears. It was too big and too tall and the top wasn't even on it yet. My husband saw my despair and said, “Hey it's too late to do anything about it this year. Next year we'll donate this one to a family who needs one.” Still glum and teary-eyed, I finished redecorating the new tree.

Oh, I really didn't like it. It was too tall, too wide and too green, but I had to find a way to make this work. The first thing I did was chide myself. Do you remember that Facebook thing you made this morning about your year in review? Do you remember how thankful you felt for your life? Yes. Yes, I did, but my tree is still too big. Then I had an idea. I think what was making it too big and appear to takeover the room was it's positioning. I knelt down, pushed the stand further into the corner. Slid the couch closer and voila! The big tree suddenly fit. It was still too green and a bit too tall, but it was growing on me.

We finished up in time to watch the second half of the Pat's game. I sat back in my chair and snapped a photo of tree number two.

It's tall. It's very green, but when it was placed in its proper spot – just a very minor adjustment – it took it's rightful place in the room. It looks…kind of regal. I like it. Maybe not as much as I loved my little tree, but enough to enjoy it and be thankful for it. (The store shelves were really empty – there was almost going to be no tree at all.)

And so, as another day goes by, I took a breath, stood back, didn't freak out, made a minor adjustment and suddenly all was back in focus and right again. I'm always telling my members at the club when I'm giving them a form tip how one tiny adjustment in their form will make all the difference in the world. So as it is with exercises and Xmas trees, it is also true in life…one minor adjustment puts it all back in focus, and…I have written.

Little bug ridden tree, keeping watch over the lonely fire pit …