On a white white sand dune atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in
Pacific Grove, California, my family enjoyed a tree that literally ran
the length of the dune from one end of our redwood cabin, up the dune,
ending past the end of the cabin.
This tree was truly windswept, with only a few feet between the tree trunk and the sand.
We could climb it, sit on it like a horse, even do a yoga pose as I did to mark my 50th and 60th birthdays.
Every family who visited or rented our cabin has family photos sitting on this tree.
Alas, nature took it’s course and it died.
Then human nature took it’s course and through a family feud, the cabin was sold, bringing to a close our family’s near 100 year legacy as its occupants.
Yet the photos of that graceful windswept pine live on in many albums and memories.
