The Cottonwood Tree As I sat in the hot tub in the thin, early morning, New Mexico spring sunlight, I was inspired by the massive grandfather/mother cottonwood tree backlit by the azure blue sky. Never, not from seed to giant, does it ever doubt who it is. It always knows when it can safely bring its leaves out for display and when the earth below is soft and ready and it’s time to send its cotton seeds out to find a place to land and sprout. It has deep roots to sustain o