Jamie’s Hearts – Pat & Richard, A Heart Story

Stories like this make our hearts burst. Thank you Pat and Richard, for sharing your love with all of us at MyNewUsual. It is our privilege to pass it on. Here’s the first in what we hope are many stories of hearts and love in Jamie’s new series, Jamie’s Hearts.

“Love is all. Love is new. Love is all…love is you.” ~ John Lennon

Like the hearts of two senior citizens, a 50-year-old cedar tree stump bears the scars of tragedies of the past.

In response to the newly installed “Jamie’s Hearts” column, MyNewUsual received this very beautiful submission. It is a story of “hearts” in the lives of two newly engaged senior citizens living in California. This story not only further reinforced my own beliefs in all of the wonderful messages of love out there in the universe, but it also was a great reminder that it is never ever too late. It is so vital that we never lose our sense of possibility and new beginnings because in the end, it’s all we have…

Pat and Richard met on May 5th, 2014. On their second date, while going for a walk near a lake they came across a heart shaped stone.

They picked it up and kept it in a tray their car for about a year with a great hope that this heart-shaped stone was somehow a sign from the universe of their growing love for one another….believing that just like this stone, time would either shape their hearts to be, or not to be together.

Months later after coming across this heart-shaped stone discovery, Pat and Richard received another very strong message of love….

Pat had a huge Cedar tree in the front yard of her home up in the mountains that had over time grown and sprouted into two trees growing side by side from the one massive trunk. The bottom, or stump of the two trees grew to be over five feet across. The twin trees towered overhead at a great height of least 75 feet tall! Sadly, in January of 2015, the city had deemed the towering trees a danger to the neighborhood and Pat was told they must be removed completely.

Of course, Pat and Richard were very disappointed because the trees were not only a beautiful addition to the landscaping of Pat’s home, but also because the trees had provided a home to dozens of squirrels and blue birds. Pat fed them seeds regularly and all of the wildlife gathered at the trees base to eat and mingle with one another on a daily basis! During the Christmas season at nighttime, it was not an uncommon sight to see deer laying around on the ground beside the tree base next to Pat’s festive lighted deer decorations.

However, for everyone’s safety, this 50 year old, huge, towering neighborhood monument that had been in her front yard for ages was finally to be cut down. Over the course of three days, a tree removal crew cut the trees down and left all of the wood and the stump in Pat’s front yard.

Month by month, Richard, Pat, and her neighbor Tom cut and split the big rounds of cedar into firewood. The remaining stump that was still in the ground would have to be ground down. All that would remain of the trees would sadly be firewood and sawdust.

In an attempt to reduce the cost of having to pay another crew to grind the stump into sawdust, Tom began to cut large pieces from the stump. One day, Richard realized that what remained of the stump resembled the shape of a very large heart! Wow he thought….yet another beautiful sign, a message of love and positivity in the midst of the sadness that they were experiencing having just cut down Pat’s beloved tree. Richard knew immediately what this amazing sign was telling him to do….

So, one day very soon after while Pat was away from home at work, Richard recruited Pat’s wonderful neighbors to come over with a router and cut the beautiful words you see in the picture below and then they painted them.

On March 31, 2015, when Pat returned home from work, Richard organized a neighborhood cookout gathering in her front yard. Pat could not yet see Richard’s marriage proposal message that was cut into the stump because it was intentionally covered with sawdust. It was only when Richard handed Pat a broom and asked her to please sweep the sawdust from the stump so that people would have a place to sit down around the fire that she discovered his marriage proposal….seeing the words “Pat, will you marry me? Love you, Richard” carved and painted onto the stump.

Pat of course immediately said, “Yessss!” and their wedding is scheduled for this coming fall. They plan to remove about six inches from the top of the stump to preserve the memory of this VERY special heart in their lives and then it will be mounted in their back yard.

This story made me think of one of my very favorite childhood books, “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein and all of the love the tree brought into the boy’s life.

Romance is definitely in the air and Pat and Richard eyes are wide open, seeing so many naturally occurring heart-shaped messages of love everywhere in their lives lately, just as you see in this picture of a heart shaped bush growing from a tree they spotted while attending a recent car show in Knights Ferry, CA.

Just like Pat and Richard’s hearts, the heart-shapes found in the stone, the tree stump and the bush may not perfectly shaped, but are still such beautiful reminders of the gift of everlasting love and the love in their hearts for each other!

Thank you Pat and Richard for sharing the beautiful story of newfound love and heart-shapes in your lives. All of us at MyNewUsual would like to wish you both the very best in this new and exciting journey as your two hearts become one!   We all could not be happier for you. Love is everything, love is everywhere and love has no time limit. It is everlasting and it is never EVER too late. In the words of Pat, “the good Lord truly saved the best for last when he put us together.” Ahh I love it! I hope that you both will keep on searching for all those beautiful heart-shape messages of love and signs. Congratulations and please keep us posted on your beautiful journey!

If anyone else has a photo and or story of hearts and messages of love to be included in the column, please send along to info@mynewusual.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Follow the series “Jamie’s Hearts” every Monday on www.mynewusual.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest, You Tube and Instagram.