This White Oak, about a half a mile from my house, is a destination for many of my walks.

It is up on a rise so on winter evenings I’ll walk to it to watch the sunset. In the morning, I’ll walk to it after watching my kids get on the bus. The sun will be coming up, and I’ll stretch my arms up the sky, look at that tree, turn around and walk home. It is steadfast, resilient, strong. It encourages me to keep on. 

When they were younger, my children and I tried to see if we could encircle it, but we failed. Years later, we tried again and it worked. That tree has seen them grow up, seen me grow with them. In a way, it is a part of our family.

Have a Bright Spot to share? Send it to Managing Editor Julia Lerner (lernerj@denison.edu). Tell us about the moment that made you smile in under 200 words, and try to include a photograph. We’ll add it to our growing list of Bright Spots on TheReportingProject.org!