Which Perfect Pink Cherry?

{3:30 minutes to read} So it’s Mother’s Day, and I’m finally going to get my pink weeping cherry tree. We were actually on our way to the beach for a morning walk while it was still cool and overcast, when we detoured right into the nearest nursery to peruse the latest shipment of cherry trees. Okay – just a quick look to see what’s what and then we’re out of here. Sneakers getting soaked in the wet grass, sun ascending and burning off the morning fog, clock ticking before it gets really too sunny and hot to walk the beach.

Are we just window shopping or purchasing today? I’m in the mood to buy. For me, it’s now or never… again. The blooms on the cherries are waning by now so this latest shipment is most likely the cream of the crop. They may get a few more in, but not of this quality. Take a chance?

This has been three years in the making. The decision, I mean. We knew we needed a new ornamental tree in the front berm, and I had been campaigning for a very long time for a weeping cherry. For three springs, we watched them come and go at the various nurseries we haunted, never finding the perfect one. Pink was the color for sure – but:

1. Did we want a light pink or dark pink?

2. Weeping tree of Kwanza?

3. Fast-, mid- or slow-growing?

4. Single flowers or doubles?

5. Dwarf tree or a 12’ x 12’?

6. Wait another week to see what comes in on Tuesday’s shipment?

SOOOO many decisions that by the time we come back to look them over again, the best ones are taken and we’re back to “next year we’ll get one.” The berm survived another season without the pink cherry which, had we purchased it three years ago, would have been taller, fuller, bigger, loaded with blooms and well on its way to a substantial and stately looking specimen.

Hesitating . . .

Pondering . . .

Weighing . . .

Waiting, waiting, waiting for that perfect moment, that perfect choice, that perfect perfection.

We think there is that perfect moment in time when everything – and I mean everything – just falls into place. It can happen, but it is indeed so incredibly rare.

Most of the time, we deal with what we “got” and make our imperfect but ‘best choices’ based on the current situation. In mediation, that’s exactly what our clients are doing: Dealing with what they have and making their best choices given the information and circumstances at hand.

And there is another consideration: The timeframe. Get it done, or miss the momentum, the opportunity, the closure?

Wait for that perfect moment? Miss another season?

Dark pink, double flower, weeping, mid-growing, 12’x12’ – done!

Comments from Social Media

What a beautifully written piece that so perfectly captures that frustrating search for perfection – and what a nice tie-in to the process of mediation – so we can all walk in those shoes.

Janet Spaulding