Day 9: A Childhood Memory

You'll have to excuse the lighting in these pictures. I was taking them as I left my parents' house at 5:45am yesterday. This is a maple tree that is next to my parents' deck. It was only a little tree when we built the deck and we (Kim, Zach and I) always talked about how cool it would be when it was big enough to climb into straight from the second story deck. The tree is taller than the house now and I'm not sure I would trust it enough to climb into. However, it also represents all the trees on my parents' property. My mom loves trees...evergreens, maple, apple, etc., etc. When we moved onto the property, there weren't that many there. So my mom and dad planted them. And we all helped. Helped plant them, helped water them, mow around them, replant them when we (the kids) mowed over them. I spent a lot of time with my family working on that windbreak.

These trees and I have grown up together-as I've gotten older, they've gotten bigger. Now when I come home, you can't even see the house from the road. There are hundreds of trees, all loved and nurtured by my mom. Just like me.