Falling for a Tree

Living in Place

I’m falling for a tree: a very tall, maple growing beside a river.

I must have walked past this tree several thousand times in the thirty-odd years I’ve lived beside this river, but yesterday, when new snow erased all but the landscape’s essentials, I looked up, and this tree tugged at the strings of my heart.

This tree is a model of maturity, grace in aging, and fortitude.

She—no question this tree is feminine—she soars for sixty or seventy feet before her strong arms reach out over the water toward the southern sky. She no longer has branches on the side of the shaded woods, though there’s evidence she once did, maybe before the forest grew up behind her.

I didn’t used to fall in love with trees. I’d notice ornamental ones in parks and gardens, especially when they’re in bloom, and I always admire a line of stately maples along a stone wall. When hiking through the woods, I note an oak, recognize an ash, and smile at any large wild cherry sporting bark like the plated armor of a stegosaurus. I’m pleased to identify paper birch, yellow birch, and gray, and to differentiate between white pine, red pine, and hemlock. But naming trees is not the same as loving them.

It wasn’t until I started hunting and spending days in the woods that I began to notice trees. These are trees with distinctive shapes and stories, trees I’ve befriended. I greet these trees with the same gladness with which I greet my neighbors at the post office: they’re good acquaintances, well met. But this sudden love of this singular, tall maple is new.

I’m drawn to her; I can’t pass her without looking up. I’m not just looking up to see her crown, but I’m looking up to her. She is a model of maturity, grace in aging, and fortitude. She’s well-rooted and well-connected to her neighbors through the underground mycorrhizal network of trees. I’m in love with her height, her straight posture, her strength, and her patience. I want to be her, and accept my rootedness, my connections, and my strength as I age.

Have you ever fallen in love with a tree? Tell me in the comments.

News from the Word Shop - Announcements, Events, Opportunities

TODAY, February 26 at 5:30 pm: Reviving Artemis Book Talk, Q&A and book signing at the Springfield Town Library, Springfield, VT.

On Sunday, March 1 at 7 pm: I’ll be a guest on Maine Outdoors, Voice of Maine Radio, WVOM. (You can listen online.)

On Tuesday, March 3 at 6 pm: Reviving Artemis Book Talk, Q*A and book signing at Brewer Public Library, Brewer, ME.

SOON: Release of the Audio Book of Reviving Artemis, available from major digital retailers and libraries.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10: Reissue of Into the Wilderness, an award-winning love-story set in Vermont in 1964.

More events coming in April and May. Subscribe to my Substack to stay informed.

Interested in having me speak to your book, conservation, or women’s group? We can make it happen. Contact me!

Reviving Artemis is a memoir about aging fiercely. Into the Wilderness is a love story between oldsters.