A Personal Memory About a Tree

 You know that feeling, when you're walking down the street and suddenly you see someone who you haven't seen for a long time - it's like time stops for a moment. You go from feeling normal to having your heart racing, feeling light-headed and being sweaty. It's a feeling of joy mixed with surprise.

 It’s winter and I am sitting in my living room. I feel the warmth from the fireplace, and smell the fresh cut pine tree. I look out the window at the snow-covered world, and then I see it - a crabapple tree. The tree is so white because of its thick coating of ice, but also because its flowers are now gone. In this moment, I am filled with two things: joy for having come home to my favorite season, and sadness for all that seems lost in wintertime.

All trees have a story. This crabapple tree, in particular, is special to me.

It was the first tree I ever climbed. It was the first tree I ever climbed. I can still remember the feeling of my fingers gripping onto the bark and making my way up that trunk, so young and innocent. I can still see myself sitting on a branch at the top of this tree as if it were yesterday.

I would stare out at the world from up high and take in every little detail: birds flying over head, people walking by on our street, cars driving by on the nearby highway. 

I also remember when this tree finally withered away after years of neglect and died only to be cut down a few months ago

I remember playing for hours with my friends under my crabapple tree. We would swing from the branches and pretend to be fairies in the garden, all while eating apples from the tree. There was something about being outdoors that made playing so much more fun than indoors.

When I was a kid, after school I would go play at my friend's house or at the park before dinner time. As I got older, I slowly stopped going outside as much. The outdoors became a place for physical activity not for playtime like it used to be when I was a child. However, as an adult it has been proven that there are many benefits of being outside - and one of them is spending more time with your friends!

 It was during the last week of summer vacation in seventh grade, and my mother had just told me that my dad would be coming to take me to school that day.

I was excited because he barely ever came to get me. I never knew this particular tree's name, but it always brought back memories of him and his parents.

On the way to school, we stopped by Uncle Frank's house, which made me think about how much he really liked crabs. When we got to school, I saw a group of kids I had never seen before and felt lonely for a minute until I found out they were there for a different class.

And then when I got home from school, I saw an apple tree with red apples on it. Amazing.