[Wisdom] is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed (Proverbs 3:18).

Kate loved the old maple tree more than the house.  According to family legend, the tree was actually the inspiration for the family home:  its firey red autumn foliage a brilliant, dramatic signpot that yelled out to Kate's grandfather, "Stop!  Buy this property!  Build here immediately!"  So he did just that.  When the plans were drawn up for the house and they called for the razing of the old maple tree, Kate's grandfather had insisted that the blueprints be modified to allow for the coexistence of the house and the tree.  Thus the tree became a centerpiece of many family memories through three full generations living under its shade and protection.  Children were born and later moved away.  Older generations passed away, while the house was passed on to successive generations.  Birthday parties, graduation parties, bridal showers -- they all happened under the canopy of the old maple tree.  The house's siding was repainted and replaced numerous times.  At least two new roofs had been put on the house.  And through all of the changes, the old maple tree stood vigil.

When Kate's parents decided that they "needed to downsize" and move into a condominium across town, Kate and her husband jumped at the opportunity to live in the old house with the old maple tree.  They gave notice at their apartment and moved into the house just as the leaves were beginning to bud on the old maple tree.  When the days grew warm and bright, Kate was reminded of the days when the old maple tree was her personal playground:  Kate and her friends climbing on its branches and swinging in the old tire that had been hung by her father with a strong, thick, nautical rope.  As the summer grew fat and lazy, Kate decided to string up a hammock between the old maple tree and a thick wooden post that she had her husband, John, pound into the ground; on August evenings, Kate and John would sit in the hammock together and talk together, occasionally reaching for the sweating glasses of cold lemonade that rested on the ground beside them.  In the fall, the leaves turned scarlet again and drifted down onto the front lawn with a thousand whirlygig seed pods, which had been some of Kate's favorite playthings as a little girl.  And in the winter, Kate was reminded of the snow forts that she would use with the old maple tree strong at her back -- providing protection from the wind while she burrowed within the drifts and then offering a firm foundation for one wall of the fort.  Watching the seasons change in her first year of living in the old house again, Kate realized that there was beauty and memory and utility in the old maple tree for all phases of life and living.  The tree gave shade in the summer and insulation in the winter.  The tree provided a sense of solidity and continuity.  It represented rest, recreation, and reassurance.  When the tree started budding again in their second spring of living at the old house, Kate realized that she wanted to build her life around that old tree.

On the first really warm day in May, Kate went into the garage and found a handful of the whirlygigs that she had set aside the previous fall and she walked out to the front yard of the house, opposite from where the old maple tree stood in the back yard.  Using a small gardening trowel and digging her fingers into the loosened earth, Kate buried her handful of whirlygig seeds from the old maple tree and patted the earth down on top of it.  Erecting a tiny perimeter of garden fencing around her freshly-dug mound, Kate went back into the house and washed her hands.  She didn't know how likely it would be for her crude planting to amount to anything; she realized that she knew next to nothing about horticulture and particularly the cultivation of maple trees.  But she determined to give those little seeds every chance to succeed as their own little saplings, and spread their branches and leaves out over the family property for generations to come.