Tree

Dear friends invited us to cut a tree from their farm this year. I remember 9 years ago when they planted those trees. Our kids were toddlers together then. Now, they hang, hoods huddled together, joking. They pile on the couch, devices in hand and play video games, they meet up at the library down town. Their oldest daughter, a teen this week, is nearly as tall as me. The trees have grown faster than the children–just barely.

Afterward we decorated the tree. There was a dusting of white in the shady places left from a ten minute squall earlier in the day (gone now). It was quiet and dark, and sweet.