to eternity

There are three ways, they say, to eternity: write a book, sire a child and plant a tree.
I haven't written a book (just contributed an essay), doesn't have a child yet, so I'm left with planting a tree.
That I did this new year's day. I planted, together with my father, fast-growing gmelina seedlings, plus some umbrella tree and narra in our backyard.
I can't remember the last time I dug the earth, but this recent experience reunited me with mother nature - it was good feeling the soil in my hands.
The planting made me realize I was doing something for forever - the trees, when they grow, will outlast me and my father.
Actually, that was not the intention. I want shades around the house because a typhoon middle of last year felled many mature, shady trees that it now becomes so hot at suntime.
My father said the gmelinas can grow a trunk in half a year, so the next time I go back home, I can expect some new leaves providing protection from the heat for us.
Anyway, if the planting will give us more than the short-term goals, it is an experience worth repeating. Nature can exceed the beneficence of human intentions anytime.