Everyday Canvas

Oaks

Prompt: If you were to describe yourself as a tree, what kind of tree would you be? What do you see as your life cycle as a tree?

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Since I have difficulty to see me as a tree, I'll write about the kind of tree I'd love to be.

I would love to be an oak to supply acorns to cute squirrels. I like to see things from a distance but with everything surrounding them, and certainly, an oak has the larger view, especially from its top branches.

In addition, oaks are deep-rooted and they can exist in clusters or as lone trees, and they hold their place, come rain or shine. I like my aloneness but I can also relate to people. In fact, I love people.

An oak also casts a great shadow, sheltering other living things from the rays of the scorching sun in summer, and it provides a home for birds and feeds the earth it stands on with its fallen leaves turning to mulch underneath. All in all, an oak loves life and living things, and so do I.

Several decades ago, our house in another state had a large backyard with about 200 oak trees, an apple orchard, and several other kinds of trees. It used to be my favorite place to live. There, I fell in love with the oaks, with their resilience, their regal bodies, and limbs with unassuming colors, only to be adorned with green in spring.

We had a couple of hurricanes hitting the state, then. Although we lost a few other trees, none of the oaks fell. They were resistant and hardy. I think those are excellent qualities to wish for.