Gay Yellen: Talking to Trees
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal has me thinking about the emotional connection humans often feel for trees. In “Why a Tree is the Friend We Need Right Now,” columnist Elizabeth Bernstein describes her relationship with the banyan tree she first encountered while worrying about a sick relative, and to which she returned again and again to seek comfort under its boughs.
The heartfelt gratitude she expressed for her banyan reminded me of Shel Silverstein’s poignant picture book, The Giving Tree, and also of my own tree-friends.
My relationship with trees began with my childhood summertime reading and the mimosa tree in our front yard. I’d climb up to the sturdy limb that perfectly fit the curve of my back and, cocooned in the cool, dense shade of its feathery leaves, I’d read my latest Nancy Drew.
In the neighborhood today, hundred-year oaks and other wizened trees abound. Like the WSJ columnist, I feel an attachment to many of them. I revel in the shade of the ancient oaks that shelter a nearby path, bending toward each other like a giant arbor. There’s one with a burl that looks like a teddy bear. I pat its fat belly as I walk by.
Down the street there’s one that appears to be winning a decades-long power struggle with a city sidewalk. I cheer it on as it pushes the cement away from its powerful roots. Another favorite shelters a little fairy house.
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| Fairy house tree. |
I also mourn the giants cut down too soon, along with the charming brick bungalows they stood beside—only to make way for new, gentrified, and decidedly unremarkable houses.
Thoreau once opined that “trees indeed have hearts.” So when the WSJ states that a “calming and awe-inspiring tree is the perfect antidote to anxiety,” I heartily agree. Especially nowadays, when anxiety seems to lurk around every corner.
Do you have a special relationship with a tree? If not, go out and find one. Spend time there. Hug it, if you feel the need. It might be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Gay Yellen writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series. She’d love to hear from you, in a comment on this post, on Facebook, BookBub, or via her website.
There's a marvelous old linden tree and several hickories behind my house. The builders and the city's arborist worked to preserve as many old trees as possible, and planted new little trees in front of each house. My eco-broker selected a lot for me, deciduous trees on the SW side give cooling shade in summer and allow sun through to give a bit of heat in winter. I love the trees, and so do the wild critters.
Mary, what a wonderful community you live in! And the critters! Thanks for adding another reason why we love trees.
Beautiful post. I have the same affinity for trees, and The Giving Tree is one of my favorite books (not just for children). I still treasure trees that are long gone, such as the pomegranate tree at my childhood home, and the weeping willow we had to take down from my yard in Chicago (due to carpenter ants). I'm ecstatic to see that my mother's rubber tree is coming back now from the freeze last Feb.–another of my dear friends.
Saralyn, I'm glad this sparked memories for you. Happy for that rubber tree plant. Now I'm singing the old Sinatra song…
In Oaxaca, Mexico, there is the "Árbol del Tule" called a Montezuma Cypress in English. In Mexico these trees are called ahuehuete, a Nahuatl word meaning 'old man in the water'. When I lived in Mexico City, I would travel to Oaxaca at least once a year and I would always visit that beloved tree. It is the largest ahuehuete in the world and presumably has the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world. It's on a tentative list at UNESCO as a possibility of being named a world heritage site. Yes, I love trees, and in particular I love my Árbol del Tule. Thanks, Gay, for writing about trees. What would we do without them?
Kathryn, I just saw a picture of the Srbol. What a tree!
We had trees behind our last house, but a crew not understanding the directions to leave a buffer cut most of them down… we all mourned the loss. This house, they did it right. We have a buffer that in the spring and summer, give us privacy and let us see birds resting in the branches… in the fall, it is an array of leaves changing colors. No personal tree to hug, though. Always been a city girl so this is the closest I can claim to my own trees.
Watching the birds and listen to their chatter is another reason to love trees. I'm a city girl, too, Debra, and I think it's because we see so much concrete every day being among the trees is so comforting.
How I love old trees! I just recently paid my respects to the Angel Oak near Charleston. What a grand old thing.
I love them too, Shari. They bear life's scars with such dignity. My brother just moved to Charleston to be near my niece. I'll have to check out the Angel Tree when I visit. Thanks!
Really nice post.