I, too, have embraced the sapling/tree metaphor to describe our situation, as my avatar image here indicates.

MetsFan, you're not alone or crazy. You and I are in practically identical situations.
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"There is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces... even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar." -- from Moby-Dick