Connected in Nature

Ted's cousins came back from Israel and shared with us the video of their tree planting for Max.  A JNF forest ranger arranged for them to plant a sapling in their daughter's forest in Max's memory.  This video illustrates what I love about Israelis that other people find rude or prickly.  They just tell it like they see it....the intention is always loving but they won't feed you a bunch of false hope.  Listen to what the ranger says to Miriam and Jay at the beginning of the video.  It made me laugh out loud.  Most importantly though - it was such a beautiful thing for them to do for us and in memory of our Max.  I cry every time I watch it.  Also, I just love how planting a tree in Israel is an experience, a right of passage, a spiritual thing to do.  That is how it should be.  In our lives, we don't connect enough to nature, in my opinion.  We just pick out trees and pay someone else to plant them. How beautiful that Max and his cousin are connected in Israel forever (no matter how long their trees survive)?

4 comments

Meg said...

So beautiful.

Kate said...

That is so moving. Not sure if I shared this with you, but when Maxie died, right before Maxie's Forest fund was set up, I had a tree planted in his name through the "Tree People" organization. I called them a few weeks later because I wanted to see WHERE his tree was, so that we could maybe visit it over the years. They said they didn't know where the tree was, which I thought missed the point. These forests in Israel are such beautiful tributes--I hope to see Max's trees some day.

maxiesmommy said...

The trees we are planting in Israel also will not be marked as Maxie's. They will be part of the whole replanting project in the Carmel. His trees will be among the trees that were planted in memory and in honor of many, many other beautiful souls. There will be a pillar memorializing Max in the forest but each of his trees will be hiding among the forest. Hopefully, you will still "see the trees through the forest" because they will surely still be there.

Robyn said...

Brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful boy, you are so loved and missed.