I miss my maple tree

It was fall and the leaves were beginning to show beautiful colors all over Greensboro. Lowell and I and the children were cleaning up a yard that, I am told had been beautiful when the Sink family lived here, but was now overgrown and neglected. We had moved into an old house on an oak tree-lined street where many squirrels scampered. It was fall and the leaves were beginning to show beautiful colors all over Greensboro.

We pulled up lots of weeds, small trees and wild onions. Charlie, our first born, planted three of the little trees in our front yard. One maple survived. The main trunk of the tree broke a little and bent over. Charlie taped it up and the darned thing thrived. He watered it and kept the weeds and grass from swallowing it up. It grew into a beautiful tree near the street at the edge of our driveway. The colors of the leaves every fall were glowing. I loved that tree and the rustling sound of the dry leaves. It was beautiful in the spring when the green leaves shimmered in the rain. The shade it provided against the harsh rays of sun on hot summer days was refreshing.

Several years ago a big wind came and blew over a giant oak tree in a neighbor's yard. The tree was pulled out of the ground. Its roots pulled part of a front porch and steps out of the ground. The top of the oak tree landed in our driveway. There was damage to several houses and cars. The wind blew the top out of our beautiful maple tree and split the tree so badly that all of the limbs had to be taken down.

I couldn't bear to lose the tree completely; so, we left the tall stump standing until this summer. The flower bed that had been under the tree and then around the stump is still there. The yellow mums are a bit neglected this year but still beautiful. I miss my maple tree, but I have beautiful memories.

Maybe one of the little trees growing in the flower bed now will someday grow into a big tree that will offer beauty and shade to everyone who passes this way.