I worked for many years in an industrial facility.  It was a good job with good pay and many good people but it was an every day struggle for me to work there.  I started the job when my second child was just four weeks old and worked there throughout all three of my children's growing up years.  On my daily travel to and from work I passed some idyllic looking rolling pastures.  In one of these pastures was a very large lone oak tree.  It was a beautiful strong tree.  Early in my years of passing it, the tree was struck by lightning and a large branch fell to one side.  The tree continued to live though, even with this one section lying partially on the ground.  This same thing happened again a few years later.  If the tree could persist, so could I.  Some days just seeing this tree is what I needed to stay on the road to that job.  I had a plan and I was going to make it.  And I did.  I am now a stonecarver and all of my children are grown and have had the educational opportunities I had committed to give them.  This piece is my tribute to that tree.

Angel Fire Alabaster from the desert south of Albuquerque, New Mexico

Size:  15" x 18" x 12"