Mark Berman

And, you know, sometimes I even felt like I would kind of, you know,

talk to this majestic tree, that I kind of would anthropomorphize this tree, that it could listen to me and maybe kind of help me sort out some of my problems.

Yeah, it was very difficult.

And I'm sure a lot of people have experienced difficult breakups, but it was one of my more serious relationships.

And maybe I thought this would be a very long-term relationship, possibly somebody that I would get married to.

So that was a big blow to me.

And I was seeing friends of mine that were getting married or buying houses or having kids.

They all seemed to be

kind of passing me.

So it was a very kind of hard time.

A lot of things compounded where it did seem like, you know, a lot of my friends were passing me by and I was kind of stuck still maybe being a kid, not really having grown up yet.

Well, it certainly did.

I immediately went to Barton Park and looked for that big oak tree to share my sorrow and try to see if that oak tree could heal me a bit.

I basically said, it's over with me and Heather.

Now I've got to move out and find a new place to live.

I'm single, I don't have much money and I'm nearly 30.

My friends are buying houses, they're getting married, they're having kids themselves.

I just felt like a loser and kind of thinking, what am I doing wrong?

Well, initially it didn't help too much, but I think it felt good to get it out.

When you're in front of majestic nature, and, you know, to me this tree was fairly awe-inspiring, it does sort of make your problems feel a little bit smaller, that we're part of something larger, and the vastness of nature