When Two Things are True....

When Two Things are True

I told the tree one day I had mixed feelings about her.

“You’re good for shade and heat, darling,” I said looking down at the ground.

“You don’t make it easy for a man to decide what to do with ya.”

On sweltering summer days I love her for the cool canopy she provides.  An oasis of relief from the unrelenting lashes of direct sunlight.  I can’t imagine what I’d do without her taking my hits like a bodyguard.

Come winter, though, I look at her differently.  Everything inside me views her as a heat source, and that’s all I need in that moment, so it’s all I see.  You feel me?  I don’t need shade when I’m shaking.  I need warmth.

“What do you expect me to do with you?  I see it from both sides.  I need your shade and I need your heat.  Why can’t you just be one or the other?  Why are you good at both.”

I shake my head, which is what I do when I’m making a difficult decision.  When there is no RIGHT decision.  When there isn’t just one OBVIOUS decision.  When two equally good things force you to choose between better and best.  Bad or worse.  The nuance gnaws at a man’s heart who loves the tree for two equal and opposite reasons.

It stinks when two things are true at the same time, doesn’t it?