Shade - A Guest Blog By Allie Helms

It's Allie's turn at guest blogging.

 THE CRAB APPLE TREE

When I was a girl, there was this beautiful crab apple tree in my backyard. This large, bright green tree dripped with thousands of little crab apples that grew no bigger than a child's hand. They tasted sour and sweet and would give you quite the stomach ache if you ate too many along with handfuls of wild mulberries. Not only did this tree provide delicious fruit, but it also was a wonderful play area. My brothers and I would climb all over it, though I was the monkey queen and would not be out-climbed. I swung from the large, main branch that tilted out from it, and from a higher branch that you could hang from, then drop to the soft dirt. If you were ever feeling down, the crab apple tree always was there to hold you in its branches, as you would hum a little tune and imagine a little game as you explored the tree.

Many a day would I practice my climbing skills and never did I tire of being in my tree. I would look down and become fascinated by the thought that I was sort of defying gravity; that only a large stem was holding me up. Up here, I was just another apple. This was my shelter, my hiding place, my fun little world. And every summer, my feet would become calloused from tree climbing, but I loved the feeling and fresh smell of the tree.

One fall, when I must have been six or seven, my brothers were planning a big bonfire. And as simple as clipping your toenails, my father cut down all the main branches of the crab apple tree for the bonfire. And just like that, my old tree friend had lost its use, for I could never climb it again. My crab apple tree eventually was cut down all together.

This is only one of the many memories from my childhood, and I look back on my tree fondly as it gave me many wonderful summers. I hope one day that my children will have a climbing tree as I did when I was a girl.