Backyard Birch
Life’s seasons
Years ago, my eldest sister helped me choose a birch tree for the back yard of our new home. She took me out to her favorite greenhouse and advised me to buy the younger stock, because older trees don’t do well in a Zone 3 climate. Whitespire Birch looks similar to its cousin, the Paper Birch, that grows in the Chippewa National Forest northward.
The tree I bought had five trunks, one for each sibling, to remind me of our happy summers in the north woods at the lake.
A paper birch forest is something magical. Even when the sky is gray and the surroundings are depressing, their white bark is radiant. The leaves turn a bright yellow in autumn and plunge to the ground in the first hard frost. In spring, catkins sprout foliage as elegant as dangle earrings. The white bark glows in moonlight.
My husband and I worked together to make a sandstone patio just big enough for a bench. The birch leaves shimmer like green coins in a mild breeze summer afternoon while still providing enough light to read.
However, birches are delicate and a heavy snow can damage their supple trunks. This picture reminds me of this. I ran outside to shake the winter snow off. Those two trunks recovered, but there is a black scar where the trunk almost broke off.
It made made me realize that life can become fragile in an instant. I am still connected to my brother and sisters; and each loss they suffer hurts a little, but that is part of loving them.
As we grow older, even a simple text keeps our relationship alive. My eldest brother has an inherited heart condition, one sister has autism, and the other has early cognitive decline.
She doesn’t remember helping me choose that tree — that doesn’t matter. She remembers I’m her sister. She enjoys visiting with me and planning her garden. She is still a master gardener with a background in fine arts. When she had her flower shop, she might put dill into a freesia bouquet because of their delicate foliage. Her specialties were weddings and funerals.
I think it’s wonderful that her gifts encompassed the happiest and saddest of moments.