A couple of weeks ago I read an article about one of the oldest trees in the world.  It was a pond cypress located in Big Tree Park in Longwood Florida. I use the word ”was” because the tree is no more.  Named ‘The Senator’ after the Florida state senator who donated the land to Seminole County for a park, the tree was destroyed by a fire, on January 16, 2012, that burned from the inside out, starting at the top of it’s 125 ft. high trunk.  It measured 17.5 ft. across at the base of the trunk and was also considered to be the largest Pond cypress in the United States and the largest tree of any species east of the Mississippi.  They say it took around 3500 years to grow that big.   Honestly, I can’t fathom that amount of time.  It’s just too long to wrap my mind around.  Yet it’s size was a testimony to it’s long existence and it’s ability to weather the storms of life.  Until the fire, it had survived numerous hurricanes and other disasters as well as attempts by loggers to take it down for profit.  I can’t help but wonder if the storms that it survived during the course of it’s life didn’t cause it to become a stronger tree.  I’ll probably never know for sure, but I’d like to think that we can all learn some life lessons by observing the wonders of creation that surround us.

Lisa Miller, Designer