I live in front of a mountain, and there are some fig trees. When I walk around, in spring and autumn, I can enjoy the fragrance they blow in the air. Actually, fig trees’ smell is neither strong nor delicious. But the subtle smell reminds me, somehow, of my childhood, and a good reason to live.
When I was child, I used to play in my grandfather’s backyard, where there were two fig trees and some palm trees. My grandfather was a self-taught, that learned several languages, maths, physics, etc from books, in a time without internet and libraries. He used to teach me a lot of things. And I remember one day, he said: “I learned a lot, and I wish there was a way to put all this knowledge in your brain, even if I die just after the process”.
Some years later, I was the one who wish there was a way to give my young body to him. He got cancer, and little by little his body and mind turned off. One day, he barely could move away from bed, and thought about suicide. He told me: “I can’t enjoy the trees any more, I can’t go to the country side, I can’t go outside…”. Luckily, for the family and him, he passed away just some days later.
Perhaps the most important life lesson he taught me was just: enjoy the trees. Like the subtle smell of the fig trees. Or seeing how the branches change when I walk around a tree. Or listening to my cousin, gardener, explaining me how my fig tree is developing new branches in some places, to balance the weight of the main trunk.
Nature is wonderful, as life is.
Nature is indeed wonderful and enjoying the trees is one of my fave hobbies I could be doing for hours, days, months and not get bored at all, same as the sea. When I cannot hear the waves of the sea for a long time, I go and listen to the wind blowing through the trees instead.