There was a very special gift I received for my eleventh birthday that would change my life. My Aunt Barbara and Uncle Stanley gave me a lovely live Magnolia Tree - a tree gift.  It was a sapling and it stood about 4 feet high.  It needed no special wrapping. It was whole and complete in its one gallon black pot. I loved the Magnolia the same way some kids would love a new puppy. That same afternoon I planted the tree gift in a tree planting ceremony outside my bedroom window where I would watch it grow for many years. The Magnolia tree taught me many life lessons and became a diary of the seasons and a journal to mark the passing of the years until I finally went away to college. The Magnolia was my friend, my solace, and my teacher. The tree was a symbol of love and though I did not realize it at the time, the Magnolia held the seeds of my destiny within its beautiful branches. Your True Nature was grafted from that very first tree of mine. Create your own tree celebrations and tree gifts for those you love. My experience tells me that the gift of a tree is a pretty miraculous offering. Touch someone’s life. Change the world. Plant a tree. Who knows what could happen if you plant a tree. Read more about this story and other inspiring tree stories and poems in my first book published in 1999, Poet Tree.