Over the years we have taken many trips to Colorado starting when the girls were very young  – what a magnificent place.  But each year, I was saddened by the rapid spread of a beetle that kills the tall lodgepole pine trees.  Looking across the countryside, you can now see very large areas where pine trees once stood majestic against the sky is grey and dead.  I grieved that future generations, my future grandkids included, would not see the beauty of the forest heavy with these trees.  However, this is not the end of the story, now that the pine trees are out of the way, aspen trees are making a comeback.  These white bark trees with the shimmering leaves are a different beauty but just as majestic.  The lesson:  even in death there is life – don’t give up hope.