a tree grows

on one of my very slow, very calm post-surgical walks around my neighborhood, i noticed this little house with the most charming tree on the front lawn. i pictured kids sitting under it playing, and a little girl peering out over the tree from her bedroom window above. for all i know, an 80 year old man lives in that room, but this is my fantasy, so it was a little girl who reminded me of me. obviously.

i couldn't figure out why i felt so drawn to it, and then i realized that growing up, there was a big old tree on my lawn, and i remember looking down over it from my bedroom window, jumping in leaf piles and building snowmen under it, even sitting under it trying to smoke a cigarette without applying pressure to my cheeks after my wisdom teeth came out. ah, memories.

that tree was removed a few years ago because it had died and had started to pose a threat to the house itself, and the cars in the driveway. though they left it bare at first, my parents filled the space with a pretty little cherry tree.

though it doesn't tower over the lawn the way the other one did, and it never will just based on its type, it will grow bigger and fuller, and i like thinking about a little girl peering out that second floor window, my old bedroom window, one day.