Member-only story
THE WORRY TREE
One day, I hired the services of a carpenter to help me restore my old barn. But, unfortunately, after finishing a hard day during which a flat tire had cost him an hour of work, his electric saw had given up, and finally, when he got to my house, his old pick-up wouldn’t start.
I drove him home, and he remained cold and silent the whole way. Finally, arriving at his home, he invited me to meet his family.
As we walked along the driveway that led to the house, he stopped briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of its branches with his hands.
When he opened the door to enter his home, a remarkable transformation occurred. His face became radiant; he caressed his two children and kissed his wife.
When he walked me back to my car, passing near the tree, curiosity took hold of me, and I asked him;
— Why did you touch the tips of the branches of this tree a little earlier?
— “It’s my worry tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t avoid the problems, worries, and pitfalls that run through my days, but there’s one thing I know for sure, these have no place in the house with my wife and children. So I hang them on my worry tree every night when I get home. And then I take them back in the morning.” “The funniest thing,” he smiles, “is that when I leave the house in the morning to pick them up, there…
