Sally sat in stunned silence as Dr. Shah finished reading the radiology report. Yes, the same Sally who was never at a loss for words, the one who had been dubbed Miss Sally Speakalot by her Grade 5 teacher. She had known all along that there was a history of breast cancer in her family. But, she thought she had done everything possible to minimize the risk. She would only buy organically-grown fruits and vegetables, she had taken the most expensive anti-oxidants in the market, she belonged to the finest fitness club in the city, she had minimized stress by carefully managing her time...in short, if anyone was not a candidate for cancer, it would’ve been Sally. But, here she was, receiving the bad news.
“I’ve booked an appointment for you to see Dr. Lopez at the Cancer Clinic, Sally” Dr. Shah continued. “She is one of the best in the country.” Sally hesitated to even ask what the next step might be, as she recalled her mother’s radical mastectomy. It was as though Dr.Shah read her mind. “I would suspect that at this early stage, a lumpectomy would be as radical as it would get, Sally, but Dr. Lopez is the specialist and she’ll make the call. With your positive attitude to life and strong determination, you can beat it, Sally...any questions?”
Sally burst into tears as she stormed out of the doctor’s office and headed straight for the parking lot.
“This is not fair” she said out aloud as she slumped into the driver’s seat. She had just moved to Kelowna after living in Regina all her life. It was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. There were days she felt like second-guessing her decision, but then she’d watch the weather channel, hear about the windchill of -69°C on the Prairies....and would thus receive confirmation that she had indeed made the right choice! It bothered her, though. Here she was, at age 57, having spent 35 productive years in the workforce, having raised two wonderful children who were well-established on their own, having survived the sudden death of her husband at age 52... was she not entitled to a life of peace, health and prosperity? Whatever happened to the Canadian dream of enjoying life in retirement? Whatever happened to the Saskatchewan dream of enjoying retirement in British Columbia?
She started driving nowhere in particular, on the outskirts of the city, past orchards and vineyards until she came near a hill. She stopped the car and started walking, when she spotted an abandoned farm. The old farm house was still standing. The realtor in her said that with some vision and some effort someone could turn this into a very valuable property. She recalled how driven she was at one time in her life. Making money was such a thrill. It was almost a game for her. The early days were not that easy. She had to establish herself. She made cold calls, said hello to anyone she met, joined service clubs and volunteered her services, just so she could pass out some business cards and get some referrals. Once she got it into high gear, the repeat business and referrals from sastisfied homebuyers kept her hopping.
“Boy, was I ever motivated in those days!” she thought to herself. But, after a while, making money had lost that thrill she once had. The housing market was in a bit of a slump, even for an old pro like Sally. That’s when she’d decided to cut loose and make the move to Kelowna.
As she walked around the house looking at the walls and the roof with the keen trained eye of an appraiser, she noticed an apple tree, still alive, but bearing only a very few, tiny, wormy apples. The tree desperately needed two things. Water and pruning.
When Sally first moved to Kelowna, one of her neighbhours shared with her the story of how apple trees became part of the Okanagan Valley. Many years ago, she couldn’t recall exactly when, a missionary priest, Fr. Pandosy, wandered through this valley, and brought some small apple trees with him. He planted them by a creek that flowed near her house. The first tender little trees were watered by hand from the creek till their tap roots found the water level, and as their ROOT SYSTEM developed, the trees grew big and strong.
As she looked at the poor specimen in front of her eyes, she could see that the roots of this tree were desperately seeking some source of nourishment, but they were not finding it in this high spot, far removed from the supply of fresh water in the creek. Its only hope was rainfall or irrigation. Lately it had been getting neither and the results were showing. Whatever it was getting to keep it alive was not sufficient. Unless there was some intervention, this tree would never produce apples again...and would be chopped down.
She kept staring at the apple tree and started hearing a song in her head:
Oh, the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need--
The sun and the rain and the apple seed, the Lord is good to me,
Johnny Appleseed . AMEN.
It was the one song the children requested most before meals when they said grace. Actually, most of the time they never said it. They just sang it. They’d learned it at Lumsden Beach Camp and once you learn something at camp, you never forget it, do you? And neither does anyone else with whom you live!
She couldn’t sing it out aloud, though. How could she sing: “Oh, the Lord is good to me” after just receiving the bad news from Dr. Shah? “And so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need” Yeah, I need the cancer alright, she said to herself, like I need a hole in the head.
But that silly apple tree seemed to stare back at her.
She sat down on the steps of the house and started to think about her own ROOT SYSTEM. Her mind raced back to the old farmhouse near Val Marie where she was born. The family was into both grain and cattle. Old Grandpa Ross was still alive and doing the chores just like everyone else. She thought about the work ethic her family instilled in her.
In her mind’s eye she could see the little white United Church they attended. The Sunday School classes, the stories, the songs, the crafts, the picnics, the attendance awards, the summers at Camp Shagabec. Yes, her family had certainly given her some roots in the Christian faith.
Then came the teen years, and as she began to blossom into a young woman, her root system began to be entangled with other roots. Pleasure, thrill, excitement, adventure, love was all she really wanted. The family tap root was still there. The faith roots were still there. But she was not planting herself where they could be fed and feed her in turn.
Soon after that, she met a young city boy who had come to do some work for Sask Power and when he returned to Regina, she followed suit, found herself a job with Simpson’s and soon followed marriage and children. They did get married in a church, yes, they had their children baptized along with 23 others on a Sunday morning at a booming church called St.James.
Of course, the kids went to Sunday School and camp, just like she did, but when they went to church, it was mainly for the kids, not for themselves. As a matter of fact, she was quite busy with showing homes and open houses on Sundays, so she didn’t make it to church all that much. Charlie became the chauffeur. She had established deep roots in the real estate business and Charlie was moving up the ranks of Sask Power, so they had it made. Life was stable, the root system seemed to be firmly anchored in the ground.
When Charlie died suddenly at age 52 of a heart attack, she was totally devastated. But, c’est la vie! Of course, the funeral was held at the church, but more out of tradition than anything else. She was in a haze all the way through the service. Everyone said that Mark Wartman had a great message, but she realized how good it was only when she got a copy of the sermon. Her ROOT SYSTEM still seemed to be intact.
She was still young. She had enough stamina and will power left in her. She promptly picked up the pieces and started to hit the business hard once again, as though nothing had happened. But she was not on the list of top producers anymore. She was not enjoying it as much anymore. She felt like she was in the wilderness....and made the move to Kelowna.
As the apple tree came into view one more time, she realized that it was a symbol of her life. Her spiritual roots were all there, but they had not been nourished lately. She realized that she had placed her trust in people–first her parents, then Charlie–but people don’t last forever. She had placed her trust in her career, but the career was no longer there. She had made a lot of money and had no financial worries, but the bank account could not provide what she needed. She had pinned her hopes on a healthy retirement–but that was now in jeopardy. How would she cope with whatever changes this diagnosis would bring about in her life?
As she thought about the story of the first apple trees to be planted in the Okanagan, she realized that Fr. Pandosy was smart to plant them by the creek. She remembered a memory verse from church school, back in the days when memory verses were not considered a violation of the human rights of children with lesser degrees of mnemonic ability. It went something like: "They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when the summer heat comes and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit."
Was Father Pandosy thinking of those words by Jeremiah when he dug into the sandy soil by the creek side? She was sure that Fr. Pandosy pruned his apple trees. But suffering, pain and struggle by themselves don’t produce fruitful people, any more than pruning an apple tree will, of itself, produce good fruit. Apple trees that are simply pruned will die, unless they are planted by a stream. Or the stream is brought to the tree through irrigation. There needs to be water, nourishment to feed that tree or the pruning will kill it. It dawned on her that trees and humans were alike. Both can handle almost anything and grow in the process, if their roots go deep into the soil of community and the water of the Spirit.
Sally rose from the steps of the house, got back into the car and headed back home. She had made a decision. She was going to take care of her ROOT SYSTEM. She dusted off the Bible and placed it on her kitchen table. She phoned First United to see when their services were and booked an appointment to meet with Rev.David Martyn. She phoned Dr.Lopez’s office to confirm her appointment. Then she sang the Johnny Appleseed grace before taking a big bite out of a juicy red McIntosh apple.
