When I was a child, I discovered a small tree behind my grandma’s house by the lake. It was about the same size as me, and I thought that as I grew, the tree would grow right alongside me. Every time I went fishing, I would sit by it, waiting for the day it would be tall and strong enough to shade me.

My grandma would often tell me, “In due time, this tree will grow to be bigger than you.” At the time, I couldn’t quite imagine how long “due time” really was. I simply looked forward to the day I could climb its branches and rest beneath its leaves.

As the years passed, I watched the seasons change through that tree. Its leaves fell, returned, and with each cycle, the tree stretched taller and stronger. By the time I was in junior high, it had grown large enough to provide shade, and my grandma and I would sit beneath it while fishing together in the summer heat.

https://www.britannica.com/plant/tree/Tree-structure-and-growth

Funny enough, by the time the tree was strong enough for climbing, I had already outgrown the excitement of wanting to climb it. My interests had shifted, but my appreciation for the tree remained. It became less about climbing and more about what the tree symbolized: time, growth, and the steady presence of something rooted deeply in the same place.

My grandma has since passed away, but the tree still stands tall by the lake. I keep a photo of it as a reminder of all those afternoons we shared—fishing, laughing, and finding comfort in its shade.

Looking back, that tree taught me a simple but powerful lesson. Everything grows in its own time. Sometimes, the greatest gifts aren’t in the things we wait to do, but in the moments we share along the way, with the people we love.