Live Oak

The other day at work, I received the most wonderful email.  It was from the spouse of a vendor that I use.  I‘ve never met her before, but she secretly disclosed that her husband’s birthday was coming up in December and that he would be undergoing his third round of chemotherapy right on his birthday.  I was floored since he has hidden that he has been battling cancer.  Nevertheless, she reached out to a number of his friends and colleagues to write him a card, words of encouragement, etc. and to send it to her so that she could suprise himon that tough week.  What a thoughtful spouse!  I was grateful that she invited me to participate.

This weekend, while I was considering his situation, I reflected on something that I recently learned about the live oak tree.  After hurricane Katrina hit and devastated New Orleans, it was found that very few of the live oak trees were damaged or destroyed as compared to many other species that were pummeled. Among the reasons for the resilience of that particular type of tree was the fact that the roots of the trees entertwine one with another and form an underground root system that is very strong.  Also, because the trunks are twisted, they were flexible and resistant to snapping under pressure.

For his envelope I decided to sketch out this little community of live oak trees for my friend to remind him that he has many surrounding him during this storm and that he can make it through this challenge.

This is done in pen and ink and gouache.