Last week I talked about assigned seats and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the response. Thank you! I’m never sure which posts will strike a cord and which ones won’t. It makes visiting interesting and enjoyable.

A couple weeks ago I posted a photo on my regular Facebook page of two young men and plugged the tree service company one of them owns. Today I’m talking them up a little more because as you can see, they’ve chosen a ‘seat’ few of us would feel comfortable in. But as always there’s more to the story.

Here in the Carolinas, we have what I call telephone pole pines. Their real–or rather common name–is the loblolly. They’re tall, straight, and lose their lower limbs, leaving a tuft of branches and needles at the top. That makes for easy walking through a stand of them, the needles make a nice carpet on the woods floor, (though some folks use them for mulch), and the trees are cut for pulpwood. They do serve a purpose … even if not for telephone poles.

When the wind blows, they either sway in unison like they’re line dancing, or they move independently and remind me of those twirling inflatables one sees in front of car dealerships and furniture stores. It’s all that dancing that’s a potential problem, especially when the trees are close to the house or power lines. We had both. It was time to call PW Tree Service. Meet Peter Wing (left), owner, and Brandon Robertson. A couple other crew members were on vacation that week, so it was just these two taking out about eight trees of various sizes.

This is what’s left of two of the larger ones. Each stump is over 3 ft. across.

Hubby and I watched in awe as the two of them vanquished the trees, working in tandem like they were dancing. The first tree threatened the power lines and how these guys maneuvered the cherry-picker, chain saws and falling limbs was nothing short of a miracle. The larger tree, about 100 feet tall, would have made a mess of the deck or the corner of the kitchen had it fallen just right. Hubby took the picture above of Peter ‘pushing’ the top off. This is a view from the top Peter took. Well, it was the top once the tuft of branches slid to the ground. Yes, slid. While Peter was at the top, Brandon was at the bottom working cables to make sure the tree top landed where it was supposed to.

For me this picture illustrates the more to the story. While I’m in awe of what they do, I admire what they bring to their work. The photo of the two of them was taken right after working all day in the sun. Look at those faces – that’s satisfaction! I asked them how they got into the business, what they enjoyed about it and that’s when I saw the joy, the spark in their eyes.

Right away Peter gave me a mischievous grin and said, “I like to climb.” He’d worked as a lineman and liked the climbing part best of all and was good at it. I asked how he learned the trimming part and starting the business, and again that great smile and quick wit, “YouTube.” (It wasn’t!) But then he and Brandon both got serious. Neither could see themselves going back to working inside a factory or punching a time clock. There’s the sense of accomplishment when they see those trees come down in tight spaces and nothing–landscaping or buildings–was damaged in the process. When he first came out to see what we needed, he walked around my garden of weedin’ and noted where plants were growing and hidden so he could calculate where to land another good-sized tree with sprawling branches.

Peter’s faith is the foundation of all he’s involved with – his business, his life with his wife and kids. When he’s at the top of one of those trees he feels close to God, often has conversations with Him, sees the beauty of creation around him. For both him and Brandon the business is first and foremost a service. They like helping people create the space in their yard for landscaping or simply opening things up to let in more light. In our case, they see the importance of removing trees that are a hazard. After big storms they’re called to help clean up the mess. Both agreed they felt a peace of mind at the end of the day. In addition to being sweaty and tired!

At the end of the day isn’t that what we all strive for? A seat we’re comfortable in. Work that brings us joy. Peace of mind. And a place to rest when we’re sweaty and tired.  

I wish that for all of you this week!

And thank you, Peter and Brandon at PW Tree Service!