Never say "Never"

Do you see that kite? We took it to the park on a day perfect for kite flying. The wind was so perfect that we tied the kite to a bench while we played on the playground and it floated merrily there the whole time.

When Adam went back to fly it again, he undid the string from the bench, but the playful wind jerked the kite string from his hands and he looked up, expecting to see the kite come crashing down. But just as the kite was starting to feel the slack, the end of the string caught on the end of a tree branch, wrapped around tightly, and pulled taut. The kite soared upwards once more, bobbing and fluttering with the wind!

There was never a happier end to a kite. We were at the park for a long time and it never once came down.

But it was the tree that sparked my imagination. I thought it looked delighted. And a story started forming in my mind.

This tree was a bit unique. It had always dreamed of flying a kite. It would see children out with them on windy days and yearn to try it too. Sometimes, to take a turn, it would stretch its branches into the wind until they creaked.But it never worked out. Each time, the whole thing would end tangled, snagged, and shredded, and the children would go home in tears.

The tree now understood that it was never meant to fly a kite.

One day a man brought his family to the park. They were flying a small kite high in the sky. The tree looked on longingly, but resigned to its fate and turned away, sad. It felt the breeze rushing through its bare limbs and the tickle across the newly forming leaf buds.

Then suddenly, the tree became aware of a new sensation. It was a slight tugging came from one of its outermost limbs. Looking to the source of the pull, the tree saw an orange handle, secured tightly to a twig by the string of a hovering kite! The wind had plucked it from the man's hands and had slipped it so neatly onto the branch, like a ring on a finger!

Well, there was never a tree more pleased in any park. It swayed in the wind and flew that kite for hours and hours. Children playing at the park looked up to see the impossible sight. Everyone knows that trees don't fly kites! But there it was, tickled as a tree could be, with a kite flying high from its branches.

At the end of the afternoon, as the sun was setting, the fibers of the frayed string finally let go. The kite was carried away in the breeze, slowly hovering lower to the ground until it was out of sight. The tree watched it go, sighing contentedly.

Everyone knows that trees don't fly kites. But today, that one did.