Tree stumps

I have a morning tree stump where I go to sip hot coffee and think long thoughts. It’s a place where time slows down, where I dust off old memories and make room for new ones. Exploration of ideas and creative imaginings is encouraged here. Faces of family and friends greet me—if only for a moment—in my mind. It is my morning stump, where I plan the day that is waiting for me. It is a place of meditation and prayer. I don’t know why thinking comes easier on a tree stump. I do not believe in some mystical organic osmosis—a “one with the stump” philosophy. But stumps have always been magnets to me. Even as a child I could never resist climbing onto one to test the view as well as the fit. Consequently, through the years, I have become a connoisseur of stumps. While a log or flat…