City of Trees

Joe and I went to DC recently to visit our son, Joey; it was our last visit before graduation. It is prime cherry blossom season, but we didn’t go to the Basin. Instead we drove through neighborhoods lined with red bud trees interspersed between bright green leaves on unknown trees on our way to the campus at Catholic University of America.

Everywhere we looked, there was color. It was hard to look at all of it without stopping to see one tree at a time. While DC is only 100 miles from our home in Delaware, I noticed some differences in the landscape. For one, there were so many ginkgo biloba trees! I’ve only noticed them in the fall when their fan-shaped leaves are golden-colored. But, oh, in spring they are lime green. And, they are stunning.

We saw magnolias, cherries, dogwoods. I recall the story of the dogwood petals representing a cross—fitting as we enter Holy Week.

What was most profound to me was the relationship between the various trees. Where I live, the red buds are solitary, not grouped together. They stand out as ornamental, as one of a kind. In DC, there were many, and they shared their beauty with the green of neighboring trees. I saw the value of companionship as they virtually held hands down long and winding streets and lanes. It struck me that their beauty was enhanced by one another.

We returned home and the next morning I went to our local park to see our one gingko tree. Solitary. Huge. I can’t imagine how long it’d been there. It appeared as a grandfather, tall and wise, yet covered in the same lime green leaves as the ones we saw in DC.

Magnificent in its grandeur. I hope it wasn’t lonely.