So Fresh and So Green

Birch-leaved Pear, Morton Arboretum acc. 38-85-2, photographed May 5th, 2009

It’s true I’m a nature lover. I do like trees, not the ones you smoke, the ones you climb and is under on a hot summer day. I had the great fortune of growing up in a household that had a big yard.

On summer days I would set out to prove what I learned in science class. I experimented with photosynthesis by trying to revive sick houseplants in the yard by giving them what my mom gave me when I was sick: orange juice.

Needless to say that didn’t work out so well nor did the ant hotel I made complete with the pool. Who knew ants couldn’t swim?

Anyway, back to the trees. Our yard was full of evergreens, a holly tree but the one that intrigued me the most was the pear tree.

I could see it from the kitchen window. I watched it go through it’s changes year after year. In the spring it was covered with little white flowers. Later on those flower petals littered the ground around it. Tiny pears appeared that ripened and dropped by Indian summer, supporting a tiny ecosystem at its base.

In the winter it was spare and the whole cycle would start all over again in spring.

We all know how trees work and certainly I figured it out as a kid, but it wasn’t until I got older that I learned what was so great about what trees showed me from that kitchen window.

Things happen and at times we all feel sad. There was a time when I didn’t believe time would go on because of some great tragedy or disappointment. People could tell me all they wanted “this too shall pass” and whatever was so bad wouldn’t last forever. What I learned from that pear tree was that things really do change and this too really will pass.

No matter what happened that tree kept going through its changes, signaling new seasons and supporting life around it.

We all have different lessons to learn in life and for me that one was pretty profound. Here in New York City it got cold recently and I didn’t feel prepared for the season change at all. October is already almost over and working so hard didn’t even permit me to notice the change in season.

Most of the leaves of the pear tree at my mama’s house should be on the ground by now. In a few months that ground will be covered with snow. It all brought this lesson back to the front of my mind this year and I wanted to share what I’ve learned with you.

Whenever I see that tree or hear this song by Phil Ochs called, what else, “Changes”, it let’s me know I should never forget “this too shall pass”.

Green leaves of summer turn red in the fall
To brown and to yellow they fade.
And then they have to die, trapped within
the circle time parade of changes. [Lyrics]

Phil Ochs- “Changes”