The Impossible

I spent one summer years ago, tree planting. Not your typical seed planting. Actual, full-size, tree planting. Seriously. Me. Skinny, little, weak, me. My job was normally to dig the soil and pat down the roots. But, I remember one day, I got to work and my boss told me that Javier was sick, so I would have to fill in. Um yeah, Javier’s job was to hold the tree, along with two others, and keep it in place, as straight as possible, while little people like me would solidify the whole root thing.
The duties of Javier’s part of the job didn’t confuse me- simple enough: hold the tree; don’t let it fall. The part that confused me was the whole ‘hey Zoug, I know you’re like 42 kilos and what not, but here, grab this massive apple tree and um, yeah, be sure not to let it fall.’ Ha! All righty then. I remember thinking ‘these people are nuts, but here goes nothing!’
I got in line with a few other people (all extremely large men, of course) and I stood in the middle, hands wrapped around this massive trunk, all weight leaning on my right shoulder. It wasn’t so bad. Well, it wasn’t so bad for the first ten seconds, but the next hour got a little gruesome. Coughing, sneezing, scratching, breathing… these were just a few among the many things I dreamed of doing but couldn’t, because I was holding a massive tree. I kept thinking to myself that I was never coming back to work again. ‘Quitting tomorrow. Quitting tomorrow. Just hold on one more second Zoug, you are quitting tomorrow.’
When we finally got the tree rooted and planted, I didn’t, not even for a brief moment, feel any gratification or pride from having successfully completed the act in one, human piece. What I felt was exhaustion and pain. Images of bubble baths and massage oils kept floating through my mind. Mmm. Bubble bath.
I walked over to my boss, with full intentions of quitting, and asked him, “Will Javier be back tomorrow?” He looked at me, laughed and replied, “With a force like you, who needs Javier?”
I was much smaller and weaker than Javier, so I knew he was teasing me. But I couldn’t help it- I couldn’t help thinking: ‘I hope Javier doesn’t come back tomorrow, I can totally hold that tree again.’
OK, fine. I felt a little tinge of pride.