What a Tree Did For Me

It was Earth Day 1989.  McDonald’s was handing out sapling pine trees to the children who were brought in to the store. My little brother wanted one.  The saplings were pathetic little sticks that you put in the ground. Like my brothers turtle and several other life lessons, my parents most likely thought the tree would die.  But they helped him choose an empty spot in a corner of the backyard and he planted it. And in time took a picture in front of it. The yard was so empty back then. Dad planted a maple sapling he found too. And he made a little vegetable garden. The garden was so small compared to the one at the home we had just moved from. Behind this yard with its small garden, stick of a pine tree stuck in the ground, was an empty field, something we rarely saw in the city where we had come from. We felt like we had really moved into the countryside. They say Earth Day began in the 1970’s but my first memory of it is when my brother planted that sapling pine tree. And it was the beginning of a broader awareness for the nature that surrounded us. 

    Time moved on and we didn’t pay much attention to that little tree. But it kept growing tall and straight. 

    On 1999 Earth Day, my husband and I were living what some might have called a nomadic lifestyle. We loved with a couple good friends saving up to travel to distant lands. My brother had just come back from a volunteer construction stint in New York and found himself back at home again. The future awaited all of us and we couldn’t wait to live life to the fullest. Summers were spent in the yard, playing horse shoes, eating hot dogs and seeing who could spit the watermelon seed the farthest. Dads little garden was gone but the maple sapling and pine tree had grown. A school was being built onto the field out back and we were all so relieved our view would not be filled with someone else’s back yard. The pine tree was now as tall as my brother was. He stood 6 feet tall, a height my mother said he had inherited from her side. But my Grandfather on my dads side was also very tall. Dad had built a pool and we could invite our friends to swim during the summers. Even our dog took a dip in the pool from time to time. Life was filled with laughter and light hearted playfulness in that backyard. My brothers tree provided us shade on hot summer nights. And that tree saw many parties big and small as children graduated and people moved in and out of our community. 

    In 2009 my brother, by now a skilled Tradesman, had met the love of his life in Iowa. She was the kind of girl that makes an almost perfect man whole and we all felt very blessed to have her cause our family to grow. They married and came back to Michigan for a small reception. The tree was now reaching up towards the sky and touching the fence. I think they took a picture in front of it. His tree has become one of the best locations for a photo shoot. Although it was beginning to grow too tall for the entire tree to fit in the frame. The pool was taken down as the yard was beginning to feel quite small compared to when we first moved in. And dad grew tired of caring for it as their were less of our friends over to swim in it than before. 

    On 2019 Earth Day the tree now reaching 40 feet high had become home to a variety of wildlife including Billy the squirrel. Billy is brown gray in color with a fuzzy chest. She jumps from maple to pine teaching her babies to follow. We don’t know where she births her babies but we watched her carry one by one in her mouth up one of the maple trees in the backyard. She looks just like the brown lemurs of Madagascar as they raise from limb to limb. The squirrels aren’t the only ones who enjoy my brothers tree. The bunnies find shade underneath that pine and the birds find a resting place from their flight anywhere they please. Dad is able to sap the maple tree out back now. That sap after being slowly cooked all say outside on the grill, makes the most delicious syrup every year. My brother says if he were to make a label he would write, ‘Ingredients: tree’. 

    The pine tree now fills the better part of the yard. My husband and I came home for a visit during the pandemic. Mom was having surgery and we wanted to help. She let us help even though they didn’t need us as much as we thought they did. But we had a nice summer sitting on the back deck, drinking cocktails and talking about how amazing my brothers tree was and how amazing life itself could be. A few months past and my husband fell and shattered his leg. He needed two emergency surgeries. He was able to borrow all of moms medical equipment that she had just finished using. This happened the month of our 25th wedding anniversary. We had always planned to return to our honeymoon sight but like so many things this past year, it was put on hold until a safer time to travel. We spent our anniversary at home. The same home where I took my graduation photos. The same home we got engaged in, and the home we took many of our family pictures in. In retrospect it was a lovely anniversary. My brother and his wife came over in masks so they could decorate the back of my dads recliner where Joel spent weeks sleeping while he healed. Our zoom window for our video conference anniversary party was filled with silver sparkles snd numbered letters. There were flowers and balloons and people dropped off presents. It was all much grander than I had imagined. Since my husband was still by my side despite a scary surgery I was filled with gratitude that we were able to enjoy it at all. 

    Another benefit of being home during the pandemic is that it had been years since we had seen all the seasons. I forgot how the air changes when spring comes. The breeze brushes past your face and you can almost feel it turn from a chill to a warm balmy swipe across your cheek. The buds on the trees begin to bloom. Of course the pine tree stays green all the time but even it seems to come alive in the springtime after so many months of heavy snow resting on its branches. 

    Our neighbors have the same love of nature we do. Thanks to their beautiful gardening and care, the animals have found a safe haven not just in our backyards but also theirs. Every year you can see deer, groundhog, chipmunk, squirrels, blue herons, and many birds. Robins, cardinals, chickadees, sing for us and never let us feel alone. The Hawks hunt rabbit but the pine tree is too big for them to be found underneath. I think mom found a pigeons feathers once though scattered about, so don’t worry the Hawk gets to eat sometimes. The deer come and munch on moms beautiful English garden out front like it’s a salad bar. It is said that the pigmy nuthatch normally lives in the pine forests of western North America. My parents home is located in downstate Michigan. And there is one lone pine tree in their backyard. But it is so big apparently the nuthatches think it’s a forest. They sing with their tiny voices hopping from branch to branch with their short little legs. They look like little waiters wearing gray suits with no necks. And they love that big old pine tree. And my dads seeds of course. They are social birds and that’s good because my parents backyard has become a social place. That plain drab house sitting out in the middle of a field sure has changed the last few decades. What used to be a blank canvas has become a scenic wonderland for all available creatures far and wide. 

    This past year was one of constant worry and struggle. The whole world seemed to be in chaos. Personally, as my husband went from wheelchair to walker and then walker to cane it felt like we were trying to regain something that was lost. And youth is a hard thing to regain even in good health. But in the mornings with the sun pouring in, we would sip our coffee and look in the backyard at that pine tree. That majestic tree that has survived so many winters was still standing tall and green. Its branches seem to reach up to the sky as if it’s about to take a grand bow. I bet it’s roots drink in water from many of our neighbors yards. Maybe all the trees roots come together, holding hands so as to support us in all our trials. Did you know pine cones make the best fire starters? My husband and I learned that when we spent a year in South Africa. And one day I will learn how to make pine needle tea. The native America people used to make tea from pine needles and it’s said to be very medicinal. It’s pine needles are so big and it’s branches are very full. When you look at that tree, you are filled with courage and strength. Any apprehension about the future is laid to rest for a few peaceful moments as you contemplate how something so small could grow to be something so big. My parents were hoping to help my brother learn a lesson when they helped him plant his earth day tree that day. And my brother learned to help something grow. He had a sort of friend to visit each time he would come home. I found a courage inside of me that mirrored that tree. Earth Day not only gave my brother a free gift more than three decades ago but it gave us all a perspective that we have carried for the rest of our days. The earth is here to stay. And we, mankind, have only to get out of its way.