I could hardly wait to get started this morning what with bommyknockers and gumballs! Those would be some of the names for the globular compound spiky fruit of the Sweetgum that you see hanging from the branches. These seed pods (inflorences) have male and female on the same tree. In the close-up below, it is not yet mature; still green. When mature, is barky-brown and the pod splits to allow the seeds to spill out.
They also make hellish weaponry in the hands of a ten-year old boy. Like lobbing a medieval flail on the end of a stick, the little buggars sting and are sturdy enough to pierce the skin.
With a little imagination, seeing the bark that attaches itself perpendicular to the branch in plates, would yield the reason why it is also called "Alligator wood".
The leaves however, have a range of fabulous colors all the way from the reds to deep smoky brown of an Ash to the clear yellow, orange and amber of the maple that you see above. In fact, Liquidambar species, produces a copalm balsam or resin which Wikipedia says smells like ambergris. It can be pressed from the bark for turpentine and resins, and in some ancient cultures was mixed with tobacco and smoked by the Aztecs. The range of growth is from British Columbia in Canada down to the Central Americas, and from California across to the Appalachians.
I always got A's in the part of biology that was about tree identification. This one is easy because of the star-shaped leaves, the bark and of course the seed pods.
I also wanted to talk about boundaries; the emotional kind, and things from our life's tool box. This came about with the seed pods and hurling weaponry effectively (you'll see!). At several points in my life I have felt overwhelmed by other people dictating the flow and outcome of my life and though at times, we can be victims of events or other people, there are a lot of paths through the thicket that we make for ourselves. We fuss and sometimes even whine to get out but we do not set for ourselves a way to extricate ourselves, as we desperately want to do.
I think the reason for that is because we have to have the tools to do so. If you have every tried to tear down honeysuckle vines; which grow wild and is a plant-pest in this area because it is so prolific, you would learn that you can't just break off one branch to eradicate it. You have to have at least, a chain saw and or stump removal liquid if you really want to tame it.
I don't have a chain saw, do not want to own one. I feel there is no girlie-version of things that can mangle you if you get tired, it pushes back or you are stupid with it in the first place. Therefore, once you recognize that you are grown over with nettles or vines, you need the right tools to get out and to tame the jungle!
Boundaries are good things because it helps us establish direction and control in our lives. The first step is to just allow yourself to think about a real change to occur. This part in a journey of life is all about you, and we all love that! Once you decide that you want things to change, you are the one who gets to choose when and where you apply the tools. Whatever is comfortable for you. Nobody can tell you that you must or how to do every step and have this pathway work. You have to decide for yourself. My pathway is not yours, but life has commonality.
I have recognized this aversion to take action in a friend recently because I did it for so many years myself, until I allowed the thought to actually germinate that my life could be different. The key here is seeing that you have been riding a bicycle with crooked handle bars for so long, that you have compensated for the imbalance and wrong (or sometimes even "stupid") have become normal.
Once you decide to start changing things, then recognizing what is actually normal and good, still feels a little off but with a little practice, you can be flying down the hill on that bicycle with joy, knowing that there really has been a change and you do not have to live in that tangle any more!
I dated men who were idiots. In fact, I am sure that I once had an infrared brand on my forehead that flashed "Call me!" that only they could see. Through the years I would date someone older/younger/educated/not educated in the same variety of Idiot all the while thinking that this change of wrapping paper was going to solve the problem. I had to get to a point that I could not accept/metabolize/normalize a particular behavior any more and that somewhere in my gut, I knew all along "Somethin's not right about this". For a very long period of time, I managed to accept/normalize/metabolize a number of situations and serial dating of Idiots, and, to ignore the woman in my mirror.
One day, when I was past 40, two husbands down and dating Idiot number whatever, I cried out and I was heard. I was given the tools and I made small baby steps at things I was comfortable doing to stop doing this pattern. I broke off from that Idiot and started with the Idiot in the mirror. I told her I forgave her for being that way and that we were going to be different. I did not answer his calls, I listened to teaching Cd's about Godly, healthy relationships, paid for counseling, made myself metabolize being alone successfully. Wow, there is a thought!
Over time, my successes became a hand full, then a box full of successes then eventually, I could claim victory over myself in this area of my life.
If you have something in your life that you want changed, start looking at the tool box to find what you need to carve your way a new path. If it takes the weaponry of a group or professional counseling, go for it.
You may only need to recognize that person in the mirror does not have victory in this particular area and then start. Start by wanting and moving out to make things different. That ride to stability may take a few bumps or even crashes, but consistency is the key.
However, I warn you of self-derailment. Once you make the decision, then set a date and start on it. It's like having squatters on your front yard. You saw them camping out by the road but figured, "Oh, it's only a corner, I can live with that". After a while, they are in your living room and you have allowed them in, along with the goat and the goat poop.
If you really want change, you have to say to the squatters: you need to be out by January 1! Then you start to work on making that happen.
If you then fail to carry it out, you have allowed yourself to be sucked back in and then, who is at fault?
Get back up on the bike and try again! Lob those bommyknockers and get on with it! Your life is too precious and valuable to be wasted any more.
The ship called "Your Life" has set sail and there is not another one leaving port.
