This is Digby Pancake.  We had quite a weekend!!  We are tired in a good way from visiting the senior puppies at Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary in that Tennessee place!  It was a lot of driving, we had a lot of ice cream, and we made some new friends that we will never forget.

We promise to tell you more about our visit all this week. But we start with The Story Of The Cedar Picnic Tables.

Once upon a time, there was a cedar tree.  She was in the woods of that Tennessee place.

In fact, she was from Lebanon, Tennessee.  At least that is what her seed certificate said. She was born a long time ago.

This cedar tree in that Tennessee place grew up to be tall and beautiful and majestic.  Her bright red color was appreciated and looked upon as valuable.

But one day, someone told the cedar tree that she had to grow up.  Instead of playing in the forest every day just being a cedar tree, she was going to become a picnic table.  A picnic table?  She didn’t know how to be a picnic table.  But she knew it was time for her to grow up and it was time for her to become the best she could be. It was time.

So the day came when she was cut down.  She was scared at first, but a nice man told her that she would still be beautiful, even more beautiful.  He told her that the world needed her and she was going to be not just one picnic table, but two! That is how beautiful she was! She was happy to be appreciated.  And the nice man worked on her day and night.

He told her that a place with lots and lots of dogs had asked specifically for her!  He told her that she would be the center of the action as old puppies played and persons cared for them.  He told her they needed picnic tables to sit on as the dogs got new homes, or at snack time, or at playtime.  He told her she would see so, so many things.  He told her that everyone would love her.  And she liked to be loved.  In fact, she loved to be loved.

But as the nice man continued to build her, he told her something else.  He told her that she wouldn’t always be that beautiful red color.

He told her that a day would come as she got older and that day, she would be a gray color.  He told her that she might be sad about it. That is what happens to cedar as it ages. But he promised her that once she got to the old dog sanctuary, she would understand that gray was the most beautiful color of all. She was sad, but she wanted to believe him.

And when she was finally the beautiful picnic tables all ready to be delivered, she thanked the nice man for helping her to be her best.  She thanked the nice man for showing care and respect with her. And she thanked the nice man for giving her a new purpose.  She felt at home as soon as she was placed in her new yard.

She remembered that she had been told she would turn gray with age.  She would change with age.  She would look different.  But different didn’t mean less valuable. Different didn’t mean less beautiful.  Gray would be her color.  But that was going to be the most beautiful of all, just like the nice man said.  And she knew it as soon as she saw all the gray, older puppies come out to meet her.

You see, the cedar tree knew that the love at this place beamed a bright, gray color.  The love at this place was without bounds, without judgement, without prejudice. Because even though some of these dogs used to be bright colors, it didn’t mean that in their heart they were any less of a puppy.  Just one with more years like the picnic tables would be.  And she knew this would be a nice place to go gray.

And the cedar tree knew that she was here for the rest of her years remaining. Just like all of her old puppy friends. The cedar tree knew that if the whole world valued older puppies like the people here that it would make her happy.  And she dreamed of that.  She told her older puppy friends the story of the forest and of beauty and how she grew so high in the sky.  But no matter how tall she had been, she told her older puppy friends that the tallest she had ever felt was right there by them.  She told the dogs that she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

The cedar tree was happy to be two picnic tables and happy she was needed.  Don’t we all love to feel needed?

We don’t know the end to this story, because it is just beginning.  But if you are gray too, if you are old too, your story may be just beginning too!  Find your purpose and your beauty with age.

-Digby Pancake

Thank you to The Cedar Place in Nashville, Tennessee for providing two beautiful picnic tables for the persons and dogs at Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary.

We will be telling you and sharing with you more about our visit with Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary and we will have a new story for you each day!  This visit was made possible by Good Sam and Camping World.  Good Sam supports our efforts to give back.  Learn more about how they encourage everyone to #BeGoodDoGood here!