A Boy Named Tree

When our son was three or four years old he started telling us and anybody who asked him that his middle name was Tree.  Now in our family, trees are rather beloved things, so we didn’t object to his chosen name.  His father is a modern-day Johnny Appleseed who can wield an A.M. Leonard spade like a surgeon’s knife and dig a hole and plant a tree with the same precision, so maybe he has trees in his blood.  Our Tree Brake was a spirited nature person at a young age–he loved snakes, frogs, bugs, squirrels, mice, and just about any kind of critter.  He caught snakes and brought them into the house.  He took a live mouse from one of the outside cats and brought it inside where it hid behind the toy box until we let the cat in to finish her job.  He and his sister would crawl under the corral fence and catch frogs in the muddy hollows of hoof prints.  He agilely climbed trees, swung from trees, and played in the Lilac leafhouse and the tall treehouse in the spreading elm tree.  He was a cute, fearless creature of nature.

Trees and lakes dominate the landscape in northern Minnesota.  Pines, birch, and aspen create the backdrop of beauty in the area around the Pelican Lake camp we visited.  When we drove through the woods close to the camp, we saw a deer munching on foliage under a huge white pine.

As we biked and wandered through the woods with our beautiful guide (who happens to be Tree’s girlfriend), we passed through an aspen cathedral.  The light filtered through the dancing leaves and reflected off the gray-white bark of the trees.  A feeling of reverence descended on me.

Further along the trail, we saw interesting fungi growing on fallen birch logs–another stage in nature’s cycle of tree life.

There are too many things to say about trees–they are so much more than their size, form, leaf description, bark texture, flower, seed, or fall color.  I have been frustrated that I cannot capture in a photo the majesty of a pine or a cottonwood that has weathered decades of winters, storms, and droughts.  Three pines at camp immediately caught my attention when we entered a clearing by the lake.  They towered above the other trees, quietly demanding attention and respect.  My photo does not do them justice.

As I returned to the clearing after getting some pictures of the lake, Chris and Michaela pointed down the mown path.  A young fox was sitting there.  It was clear that we were in his domain.  He wasn’t old enough to be on his own yet, but he had obviously gotten permission to leave the den.  Maybe he had wandered down to the lake to try to find a crayfish or perhaps he was tasting the sweet, ripe raspberries that lined the path.

He was curious about us–‘Maybe those are the creatures my mom told me to stay away from–they don’t look so bad!’

‘Is that my mom calling me?’

‘Still, they don’t seem too scary….’

‘But I’d better get home anyway!’

And he disappeared into the tall grass and trees.  Trees and these woods–home to so many creatures.  Often we claim the land and resources for our own without realizing how many living things call it home.  The trio of white pines that watch over the fox family that eat the crayfish and raspberries–the web of life.

Aaron Tree Brake is now a senior in college at the beautiful and unique St. John’s University where he is surrounded by lakes, trees, and wildlife.  Like Aaron, I believe we should all aspire to call ourselves something from Nature that stirs our soul, encourages our fearlessness, and inspires our life.  As for the young fox, I think I will call him Tree.