The Maple's Story

 

The Maple’s Story

by

Brenda Kay Ledford

 

          Through decades, Red stood watch over our family.  This beloved maple witnessed picnics, parties, visiting with neighbors, making ice-cream, listening to the “Wagon Train” over the radio station, and slicing humongous watermelons on the Fourth of July.

          As my siblings and I grew from childhood into adulthood, the tree offered branches and her trunk.  She helped us to pursue our dreams.

          Brother Harold scaled the tree and found adventure.  Mama knew where to find him.  She looked up and saw Harold reading the Grit newspaper in Red’s arms.  Sister Barbara and I followed big brother’s example, and swayed in the branches on sweltering summer days.

          During the polio epidemic, we stayed at home to avoid contracting the disease.  Red offered hours of pleasure under her shade.  My siblings and I played “Red Light/Green Light,” “Mother May I,” and “Hide-and-Seek,” beneath its canopy.  Barbara and I spent hours dressing our paper dolls, and coloring animals in a book.

          As we grew up, our interests changed.  When Harold got his driver’s license at 16, he started dating.  On autumn evenings, he played a guitar for his girlfriend under the maple’s blushing leaves.

          Red stood proud and tall.  She watched Mama taking prom photos, family reunions, children graduating from high school, and wedding days.  She saw the grandparents cuddling their grandchildren and Harold wearing a US Army uniform.

          Finally, throughout generations, old Red has been like a mother to our family.  It’s a story of lives forever intertwined and changed, through connection to this marvelous maple tree.