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| The family tree is now a cat jungle gym |
Outside
my window, a flurry of crab apple petals has turned my beautiful green view into
a late spring blizzard. Just three days ago I sat beneath the tree commenting
on how breathtaking it was, looming over our rooftop with all the grandeur of a
snow-capped mountain, exuding the pale sweet scent of heaven. Sigh…such a fleeting moment. As Robert Frost so perfectly put it, “Nature’s
first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But
only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to
leaf.
So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”
The crab apple tree reminds me of so many fleeting moments. It was in full bloom the day, two decades
ago, that my husband and I moved in. Our
bedroom window looked into the tree’s center, and we were lulled to sleep after a hard day of
unpacking by the breeze filling the room
with apple blossom scent.
When
our daughter was young, the tree was truly our “family tree,” the center of daily activities. Its branches were perfect for climbing. From one branch hung a tire swing and from another,
a trapeze. It was a hiding place for the
neighborhood Easter egg hunt and the shady setting for a crazy neighbor kid
performance of “The Big Bad Wolf,”complete with script, costumes, and props.
Beneath
the tree sat a huge wooden bench salvaged from the basement. It was a rustic seat, made of old barn wood,
but it was the perfect size for a mother and a preschooler and a bag of library
books. Of all the fleeting moments I
miss most, snuggling up to read with my daughter is the hardest to let go. Clifford and Little Bear and Corduroy and Dr.
Seuss were just some of our many book friends.
Now my daughter is a month away from getting married. The home she and
her fiancé will move into has an apple tree in the back. I’m excited for the wonderful moments ahead of them.
When
I was a child I had a vivid recurring dream of talking with Jesus under a
flowering tree. It was so happy and peaceful, that the scent of apple blossoms brings it instantly to
mind. Maybe the dream was a glimpse of
what heaven will be like, or maybe it was pointing to the moments of heaven on
earth that awaited me as an adult. Either
way, I’m sad to see the petals fall again, but I know next spring will bring more joy.
