{"id":486,"date":"2019-04-19T21:25:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T21:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynnricker.com\/?p=486"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","slug":"loveliest-of-birthday-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/?p=486","title":{"rendered":"Loveliest of Birthday Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cherry-Trees-thumb-400x300\"<\/p>\n

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now<\/p>\n

Is hung with bloom along the bough,<\/p>\n

And stands about the woodland ride<\/p>\n

Wearing white for Eastertide.<\/p>\n

-A.E. Housman<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have had a fascination with this poem since I first read it in high school English class.\u00a0 The idea of a cherry tree as a bride may not be unique, but it is lovely, just as the title suggests.\u00a0 There is nothing better than to stand beneath a flowering tree this time of year, and to gaze heavenward, through blooms aloft, catching that rare moment before a breezy day or spring storm strips them away.<\/p>\n

When we first moved into our home eleven years ago, I relished having a cherry tree of my own.\u00a0 I envisioned placing a lounge chair for reading beneath its protection canopy. Each fall, it is the first to drop its leaves, heralding the cooler weather and earlier sunsets of autumn, and each spring, it is the first to bloom, the hallmark of warm weather to come.<\/p>\n

I recall taking pictures of a six month old Julia under its branches; I was so excited to be out and about in springtime after a long winter with a new infant. \u00a0Her smiles and baby coos told me she was equally happy to explore the new world outside.<\/p>\n

\"547511_3628168143280_1516087503_n\"<\/p>\n

Two years later was also a very long winter.\u00a0 I waited for my tree, but to no avail.\u00a0 Mother Nature did not want to release her grip on the Northeast.\u00a0\u00a0 I was also heavily pregnant at the time, and was hoping I would not miss her brief blooming.<\/p>\n

On a mid-April night it was finally time.\u00a0 After hours of pacing my couch, I nudged my dozing husband and off we went.\u00a0 The next morning at 8am Michael arrived.\u00a0 We spent Easter weekend in the hospital.\u00a0 My parents brought Julia decked out in her Easter finery to meet her new brother. \u00a0She eyed him with a mix of interest and skepticism, before planting a brief kiss on his little forehead.<\/p>\n

On Easter Monday, we headed home for the first time as a family of four.\u00a0 As we rounded the driveway, I saw my tree, decked out in her own Easter finery.\u00a0 She had waited for us.\u00a0 We took a picture of new baby Michael under her white fluffy branches, and from that moment on, she became his tree, rather than mine.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

He delighted in her failing leaves that autumn, and crawled beneath her branches in early spring, trying to eat the mulch. In March he took his first tentative steps, and from that point was off.<\/p>\n

He runs now shovel in hand, digging up worms, and sword fighting with her fallen branches.\u00a0 He reaches long arms outstretched to her lowest branches, trying to pull himself, wildly swinging like a monkey.\u00a0 She blooms each year without fail on his birthday.\u00a0 We now call her his birthday tree.<\/p>\n

Today, Michael is five.\u00a0 He says he is now a whole hand old.\u00a0 On his tree, white blooms nod gently in the breeze, branches bending under their weight. \u00a0The world is awash in newness and greenery, and his tree is decked out in her white Easter finery, each celebrating the renewal and vitality that is spring.\u00a0\u00a0 The very essence of spring is Michael, all blustery with whipping winds the one minute, and all the sweetness and light of spring\u2019s first kiss the next.\u00a0\u00a0 And regardless of which, there is a youthful energy, a pulsing undercurrent of life that whispers, \u2018What\u2019s next?\u00a0 I\u2019m waiting.\u00a0 I\u2019m ready for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"IMG-0167.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Happy birthday Michael!\u00a0 We love you so!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide. -A.E. Housman   I have had a fascination with this poem since I first read it in high school English class.\u00a0 The idea of a cherry tree as a bride may not… Continue reading Loveliest of Birthday Trees<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78aL7-7Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}