The Giving Trees

I remember growing up in Maine, with these 2 massive maple trees in our yard. No one else on the street had trees this size. We had the "hang house" on our street, the trees provided the perfect shade on a warm summer day. This allowed us to enjoy, numerous picnics and tea parties. When Fall arrived, we had lots of help raking leaves, huge piles over 6ft high. We would line up, run and jump into them. I can remember the first night in our new house. It was an older home and the branches from the trees, scratched the windows all night. We had a Nor'easter, wind gusts coming off the bay. It was a two story home, with other alluring features, when you went upstairs, 2 stairs were hinged. We found old dishes and newspapers inside. We had a huge porch lined with windows. My Mom used it like a greenhouse and we could play inside on rainy days. The trees kept our house shaded in the summer and allowed us to have more friends over. Time went by and after many seasonal storms the trees were moaning and it was feared they would snap and fall onto the house. One huge branch had extended too far near the power lines and CMP(Central Maine Power) had to trim the overhang. This became the beginning of the end. We have many happy memories of trees, everyone in the neighborhood, has been to our house for a picnic or summer night guitar party. I think of Shel Silversteen's book The Giving Tree I remember fondly when i first read it. My son was 3 yrs old...he loved it and so did I; we talked about grammie's trees. When I go home now, it is sad not see the trees, but their memories linger like the salty air, permeating and calming.

Trees, give us so much, but what I treasure most is the memories they helped create and how every season, their changing moods, changed ours.