CALL FOR ILLUSTRATORS: “THE TOPS OF TREES” WEDDING SPEECH ADAPTATION

I am working on a book adaptation of my recent father-of-the-bride wedding speech and toast.

The story, titled The Tops of Trees, draws parallels between the life and growth of a tree and all the people essential to the development and strength of a newly married couple.

In my writing, I tried to paint pictures that everyone could connect with and remember forever.

Over the next couple months, I want to use the power and reach of networking to find artists interested in exploring a collaboration on the book idea. My initial thought on visuals—to make the book a keepsake worthy of giving to newlyweds—would be to pair watercolor imagery with the words.

Here is the story, pre-adaptation, delivered with love for my daughter Ella and her new husband, Alan, on October 21:

THE TOPS OF TREES

Other than people and God, trees are the most often mentioned living thing in the bible.

Alan and Ella:

This is a story about the tops of trees, a place I want you to go,

When you are together and happier than anyone on earth,

When you are alone and apart but thinking of each other,

When you are disagreeing and instinctively looking for ways to stretch toward the sunshine,

Take time to notice the tops of trees,

Their majesty in weathering anything in life, season upon season, bears lessons for us.

Trees have three main parts that work in unison to stay healthy and growing:

1. Branches and leaves (crowns/canopies),

2. Trunks, and

3. Roots.

Here is one way to think about it:

Roots are relatives you never knew, but who shaped the people responsible for your creation and who you have become.

For example, this note I will read to you was written on paper—derived from trees—five months after my dad died. It is from my mom’s mom to my dad’s mom.

Knowing her, I can see Grandma Gladys putting pen to paper while seated at her dining room table, just off her orange, green, and yellow linoleum-floored kitchen at the back of the house. That same dining room table—derived from trees—serves our family to this day. It sits in my home office. I wrote this speech with the table in constant view.

Her note reads:

Dear Celia:

When I came to your name on my Christmas card list, I stop and think, “What a sad Christmas this will be. We will all be missing Fred, but Celia, Sue, and the boys most of all.” Fred loved his family so much. It gave him pleasure to give—his love, most of all. Since God has seen fit to take him before the rest of us, we will try to remember, “He knows best” and take each day as it comes, try to do our best, hoping it will be good.

Love,

Gladys and Dan

The people in this room who knew Grandma Gladys, know she was decent and sincere. She trusted God’s will. Nothing anyone expressed ever quieted the anguish Celia felt losing her only son, my dad. She would well up in tears just staring at me after my dad died. Wondering why he was taken from us in July 1983.

But Grandma Gladys wanted Grandma Celia to know she was thinking of her—most of all. Gladys’ kind nature has carried on through our family to my mom, my brother Andrew, hopefully me, and I know for certain with Ella.

Trunks are your parents.

Your fateful foundation. We brought you to life as God and nature intended. And you have enlivened our journeys since May and June 1999. It boggles the mind to think about all the things that had to happen for you two beautiful souls to exist—and doubly, for you to find each other. There are thousands, even millions of factors that brought your parents together decades ago. And that same formula now applies to you and your future children.

Where would you be without your decision to go to John Carroll?

What if Ella never knocked over that bar stool?

What if Alan never threw caution to the wind, weathering a rainstorm to go see Ella late one night early on in their courtship?

As a newly married couple, you are a sapling—poised to grow stronger and taller, day by day, among larger parent trees.

Branches and leaves are extended family—and friends who are family.

All the people in your lives now are your food and nourishment. They enable and sustain your growth wherever you are in life. They are your childhood and college friends who will be lifelong friends. They are relatives and family friends essential to the strength of your parents—the tree trunk—and their success raising you.

There is mostly growth in the life of a tree, more branches, wider canopies, and leaves so bright green they are screaming for attention. But sometimes a branch withers and falls away. That happens to everyone in life.

People are with us for some time—but not all of time.

Cherish what is right in front of you and honor every moment of support from all those branches and leaves. Remember, too, from their view, you are their branches and leaves. Nourish them—everyone here tonight.

Beyond the trees with the heavenly backdrop of sky as far as you can see—the majestic birds you spot effortlessly soaring, circling with purpose, and floating on the wind above the tops of trees—those are people you knew in this life but have lost.

Grandpa Adams, Uncle Scott. Great Grandma Marcella, Great Grandpa Tony. Grandpa Bill, Grandma Jan. And Uncle Chris. They will always be a part of who you are. I believe they will always watch over you. I believe they see you and do what they can to tend to your tree.

Now that you know this, you can see them, too.

Ella and Alan:

For the rest of your lives together, always remember to gaze, to reflect, to think, to dream, to repair, to forgive, to hope, to share, and find peace with this incomparable gift from God: the ever-present glory of the tops of trees.

When you truly see their enduring gracefulness and accept them as guideposts for life, you will always find your way.

From this day forward for as long as you both shall live:

Take time to notice the tops of trees.

NOTE: The observation, “Other than people and God, trees are the most often mentioned living thing in the bible,” was sourced from, “What Trees Teach Us About Life, Death, and Resurrection, Part 1,” written by Matthew Sleeth, MD, a former emergency room physician and chief of hospital medical staff who now teaches, preaches, and writes about faith and health. He is executive director and a board member of Blessed Earth. I look forward to reading his book, “Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love for Us.”

Photography by Diana Galay (top) and family friend Mindy Goodin (bottom).

About the Author: Dave Schuellerman is a professional writer and communication consultant with 30 years of experience helping B2B and B2C companies inform and influence targeted audiences. Learn more about his background, perspective, and available services at www.FENDcommunication.com/services. Ready to engage on a prioject? Reach him directly at schuellerman@gmail.com.