Maple Friends

     I'm losing two old friends today. Their deaths will not appear in the obituaries, nor will there be any calling hours or a funeral. There will be a hole in the ground where they once stood. No, they are not people, but dear old friends nonetheless. They are my very old Maple trees that stand guard at our rental house. It is a house where we spent the first ten years of our marriage. Lots of changes happened there, but those two trees remained unchanging. I spent many years under their branches, basking in their shade.
     Once I found my little boy, daddy's hatchet in hand, trying to cut down one of those trees. Another time, I discovered that same little boy, garden hose in hand, water turned up full blast, pretending to put out a tree on fire! On the corner of the lot, one of the Maples dwarfed several other smaller trees, creating a "grove." To my little children, it seemed a forest, and they would hide and wander through the trees. I would lie on a blanket with the children and we would gaze up into the branches, observing the birds and squirrels. I always felt so much peace beneath them.
     Many children have lived there and played beneath them and have marveled at them. Their branches soared up into the sky, praising their Maker, shading us from the harsh sun, extending a protective arm over the house. They have been a dignified presence in the yard, mighty and majestic, a testament to God's creative power. But, like all things, they are dying, and before they can be damaged by storms and cause danger to those below, they must come down. Cut and hacked, and roots ripped from the ground; my stomach hurts from thinking about it. I don't even live there anymore- haven't lived there for ten years, but it hurts anyway. I can't imagine the yard without those trees; I really don't want to even see the yard when it's over. So, I say goodbye to those dear, old trees: faithful, quiet friends, who asked nothing of me, but gave me much joy.