The Cherry Blossom Tree

 By: Jaime P. 

I remember being a little girl playing under Papa’s cherry blossom tree with my sisters and brother. We’d run around the tree playing tag or sit under it having tea parties with our imaginary friends. 

Papa would tell me stories of how he’d had his first kiss with my mother under the tree and I guess that gave me an idea of what to do about my crush. 

I shared my first kiss under the tree with my future wife, Minnie Collins. We giggled and kissed and giggled some more. We were both super nervous and kinda immature. 

Years later I was married under that same old cherry tree. It was a sunny day and cherry blossoms rained down as we said our vows. We kissed and it took me right back to being a girl kissing my female crush under my Papa’s cherry tree. 

Fast forward five years, and we were a family of our own, Minnie tied a tire to the tree with rope for our son, Tyler. He played cheerfully on the playground set Papa had installed in his backyard. I was pregnant with our second child, a girl. Minnie had carried our first.

I guess I loved that tree, it was so important in my life and Papa’s life. It gave me some of my best days.

I think trees are so important. They give love and life to us and what do we give them in return? See, Papa planted that tree with his Papa when he was little and it grew into the most beautiful tree I’d ever seen.