Sometimes in the rush of things, a fella can get moving around town, and just can’t see the forest or the trees.  Such was the day a few months back, in a pretty downtown area of Forest Grove.
So in my zest to preview properties, this particular day, I park next to the building……pop out, meet a nice gent who was the owner, we tour the property…….I take a bunch of photos, I walk around the block, I walk to the park across the street to check out the facilities……basically, I walk all over the place.
Back into my rolling office I go, checking email, then on the phone, but I haven’t pull away from the curb yet from where I originally parked….while I’m on the phone chatting away and looking straight ahead…….it hits me like a ton of bricks.  Who put that tree right there since I’ve been here?  That is amazing, inside of basically an hour, somebody snuck in that tree, planted, it grew, and wham, I see it “now” :).
What finally got me really looking was the scale.  I cut my call short, as now I’m finally paying attention to what is right in front of my nose.  The car in the driveway, is a Ford Focus wagon……roughly 15 feet long.  So if you really look at the picture here, and as I was,  look at the size of the trunk of the tree, it’s darn near the same diameter.
Getting back out of my car for the third time, I walk over to it, it was one of those hot August days, and it was close to 100 degrees already that particular day right about noon time………so getting out of the car wasn’t my first choice, but I’m glad I did because as I walked up to the tree, the scale invoked some of the same feelings I had as a kid when we toured the Trees of Mystery.  This tree is just flat out immense.  I look up and up and up and up……it went on forever.  Half way up it, it had limbs bigger than most trees have trunks.  This is an iconic tree no doubt, and as I looked in all directions, no tree was anywhere near this tall………what a great find for me, and really, as I reflect back, I almost missed it right in front of my eyes.
Most cities deep in the bowels of some planning sub-department have internal lists of trees that are tagged as historic or protected.   A couple of times in the past, I’ve sold properties that basically, no matter what, you basically can’t touch the tree.   Even had one deal, where the tree itself became the negotiation…..but that’s a story for another day.
At any rate, this tree simply taught me my daily lesson which is too slow down for a minute and pay attention……..if only I didn’t have to learn that lesson day after day……….