111 is three. Many people have long lists of things they want to do before they die. I have always subscribed to what I learned was the traditional standard list, three things. Old people in Puerto Rico always say, before you die, you must plant a tree, have a child, and write a book. If you do these three things, you will have lived a good life.

I’ve been doing two of these. The first one, planting a tree, I started in 1977. In fifth grade our teacher organized a group project for the science fair. Every student in the class would plant medicinal plants and bring them in for the science fair and explain their medicinal qualities. I went to the Luis Muñoz Rivera park and picked up some seeds from a gigantic Panama Tree, took them home and planted them in a tiny container. One of them grew and I took it the science fair when it was only a seedling. I explained that the bark was used to make a tea that soothed stomach cramps and the flowers had a calming effect when chewed. Our class won the science fair that year.

Afterward, the tree grew in my mom’s patio. Once in a while we would change it to a bigger pot, and it would just kept getting taller and taller, but it only grew leaves at the top of its trunk. By the time I left home to go to college, Ana (from the tree’s Spanish name, Anacagüita, was as tall as I was and just as skinny, with a crown of leaves growing from the top, not unlike my messy teenage hair.

In 1989, while I was in Texas, hurricane David passed through Puerto Rico and knocked down the grown mama tree from where I had gotten the seed. My little tree, however, was safe at my mom’s home.

After the hurricane my mom took Ana to the park and told the park ranger the story of the tree and how it was from a seed from the panama tree that had been knocked down. The park ranger then took Ana and planted her on the same spot where the mama tree had been.

Here’s a picture of Ana when first planted unto the spot where her mama was.

Within a year Ana had grown into a tree full of branches and leaves and even flowers. But a few years later another hurricane came through and knocked down her young crown. But she recovered and this year Ana turned 31. I’ve known this three for that long. Have seen it grow from a seedling to a huge tree that I can climb and swing from her branches. Ana is a big tree now, probably 25-30 feet tall. Looking at her is awe inspiring.

A few years ago I collected some seeds from Ana and now there is, once again, a skinny tree with leaves on top growing in my mom’s patio. I’ve known three generations of this tree family, my family trees.

Over a few years I’ve worked on Ana’s story, and I finally came upon a version I like. I’m hoping to make it into an illustrated book. Here’s the text of the story:

I was just a little seed
Dreaming in my mama’s arms
And I wished to search the land
Find out what would be of me.
So my mama set me free
Crying as she let me go.
Then I found myself alone,
Wondering about my fate,
When a boy with smiling face
Picked me up and took me home.

Together we lived and grew
Like two peas from the same pod.
His mom showered us with love
And we played as though we knew
That the days of youth are few
And that soon we’d be apart,
But we did know in our hearts
That our lives were intertwined
And the zigzagging of time
Couldn’t take us all that far.

We were both grown tall and thin
When his uprooting began,
And he left to search new lands
Find out what would be of him.
Like leaves flying in the wind
He was here then he was gone,
His mom sang to me his songs,
Shared the home he left behind
And we knew one day he’d find
His way to where he belonged.

When the hurricane hit land
I had never felt such winds,
I thought it would tear my limbs
But his mom kept me from harm
‘Til the sunlight brought back warmth,
And she took me to the park
Where I recognized the bark
Of my mama on her side,
Saddest moment in my life
Everything felt dry and dark.

But his mom just put me down
Where my mama use to stand.
With a gardener’s helping hand
She turned upside down my frown.
I stretched my roots on that ground
And found what would be of me,
I was now a sight to see
With a beautiful green crown,
Full of seedlings of my own,
I was now a great big tree.

Then one happy sunny day
Came again that smiling face,
Looking up with grown-up grace
But with eyes that said let’s play.
And little Marina Rae,
Runs in circles ‘round my trunk
Laughing, singing in the sun,
Stopping, picking up a seed,
Smiling up at you and me
Says, “Can I please please take her home?”

As I said, like to have it illustrated, so if you know an illustrator who would want to work on a book about a tree, please send them my way.

So that is one of the three things, which so far has been part of my life for 31 years.

The second thing from the list is having a child. I never thought I would have a child, even into my 30s I still thought having a child was not in my cards. How wrong I was. I won’t go into details here, but suffice to say, I have a lovely child and I look forward to every day of her life.

Here is my daughter Marina with Ana in 2007. Ana was 30, Marina was almost 1.

Now for the third and final thing, I need to write a book. And I’m not counting the illustrated book about the tree, nor anything else I’ve written so far. I’ve always interpreted the third item on the list, writing a book, to mean the writing of a novel, a full-length novel, and having it published by a traditional publisher. So we’ll see. I don’t like the publisher part, maybe I can skip that.