In Search of the Perfect Tree.

Have you ever traveled out to the distant hills and forests, hiked miles into the wintery hinterland, with a song in your heart, a saw in your hand and whiskey in your flask to search for that perfect Christmas tree? Well us neither, but we did drive up into the low hills of Whitney's home town of Forest Grove to Parry's U Cut Tree Farm this year to find our perfect little tree. We hiked walked miles yards up into the tree farm past Douglas Firs, Fraser Firs, Blue Spruce and others to the depths of the Noble Fir trees. There it was, all 4'7" of it. Almost as tall as Whitney. (Kidding. She is taller than that. Kinda.) The tree glistened in the light mist that swirled through the forested hills, raindrops falling silently on her boughs. A woodsy forest green with silver highlights, she was perfect. With the smell of sawdust and sap infiltrating our nostrils as the moss covered earth settled silently beneath our footsteps, we kept our eye on our little tree as we looked further. Just in case some silly wide-eyed kid with family in tow tried to claim it as his own, we were ready to pounce back and fight them off. Satisfied with our choice, I took the saw in my hand and in two swift motions, sliced through the thick trunk and hoisted the beast over my head. Triumph. Victory. Christmas.   

A Year Later.

On March 11^th, 2011 one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded struck off the coast of eastern Japan. The earthquake was so forceful it moved Honshu, the main island of the country, which is roughly the size of Minnesota, a whole eight feet. Registering 9.0 on the Richter scale, the earthquake sent a violent tsunami reaching speeds close to 500 mph and heights over 100 feet slamming into the cities that hug Japan’s coastline. These two events caused the disabling of power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. When the back-up generators at the plant failed, the lack of a cooling system caused the plants nuclear reactors to meltdown. Radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere. It was the worst nuclear disaster to occur since Chernobyl.

Over 15,000 people perished and thousands are still unaccounted for.

In May of this year I spent a day driving through this area with my friend Aya, her dad and her grandfather (who lives in the region). While it was absolutely heart breaking to witness the devastation that occurred and to think about all the lives the tsunami and earthquake took, it was also beautiful witnessing the citizens of Japan hard at work rebuilding their lives.

Aya and her grandfather survey the wreckage.

I've collected sea glass my entire life. In all my years of searching, I've only found 10 or so pieces. In less than five minutes on a tiny section of beach I found dozens. It was a strange feeling holding them in my hand, knowing those beautiful bits of glass were created from something that caused so much destruction.

Amongst acres and acres of debris, this single tree remained. A tiny beacon of hope amongst the rubble. It was haunting.

You can still help.

Polaroids from Japan.