The Bench and The Tree

Today was the first day since the middle of March that I drove out to another city just to pass through. I had gotten so used to looking at the world from the other side of my window, that I had forgotten what other places looked like.

The city that I passed through is Astoria, OR. If you’ve ever seen The Goonies, it was filmed there. Astoria is the quintessential harbor town, filled with Geno's Pizza, sea lion guttural grunting, and the classic caw of seagulls that are synonymous with coast towns. If I were showing someone a tour of the city, I’d take them to a personal landmark…

It’s called The Bench and The Tree.

I’ve taken pictures of this bench, as it sits under a picturesque thinking tree. The tree's branches are a little longer on the left side now that I look at it, enough to cover the bench that sits underneath of it. A set of railroad tracks for the local tourist train runs behind the bench, with a weathered sign that says “Railroad Crossing” positioned about six feet to the left of it.

Looking at the sign, I begin to understand that this is more than just your average crossroads sign. This is a crossroads sign that shows us where we're at in this world as of right now...

The world has changed since I last saw this bench. I remember when the Corona virus first hit, it felt like we were in the middle of an M. Night Shyamalan movie. You know, the one where they’re afraid of the wind, because it could kill them? Stress is high, anxiety has increased, but this bench stays the same. It stays unscathed, unchanged…not even unhinged. Here they are, the best of friends, the bench and the tree…just hanging out. To them, it doesn’t matter what happens, they just kind of adapt. I guess, that’s what I like about them the most. They’ve found a place, and rooted into it. Whatever happens, they stay grounded. Both figuratively and literally.

The funny part is, I always mistook the bench as just a bench. I never realized I could gain wisdom from it, or that it was metaphorically going to affect me in a new way when I looked at it again.

As a landscape, what I see is just a bench, a tree, railroad tracks, and water. But what I see when I look closer is a life’s lesson:

Stand firm in whatever life throws at you, rooting yourself around others who will stand with you, and even the scariest things don’t seem so scary.