It has been said that to become a man you must do 3 things:
1) Plant a tree
2) Write a book
3) Have a son
In order to begin his journey to manhood, my son planted a tree in our front yard five years ago. We named the tree Roy. Over the years Roy has managed to become part of our family. Not only is he in most of our family pictures, one of the kids makes sure he has a scarf to wear in the winter, and we say good bye to him when we leave the house.
When we discovered that Roy was planted too close to the house and power lines and would have to cut down, there was great sorrow and murmuring. In an attempt to appease our heartbreak, my husband decided we would try to relocate Roy. This was not an easy task.
My daughter Anna refused to participate on the principle that she did not want to be involved in destroying her brothers manhood. When she heard we would try moving Roy to the backyard, she reluctantly agreed to help, because moving the symbol of Nick's manhood to the backyard is less traumatizing then actually cutting it down.
After finally replanting Roy in the backyard compost hole, we decided that maybe Nick could continue on his journey by writing a book.
Maybe the book could be called, "The uprooting and relocation of my manhood."
