Magnolia Trees

We had a HUMONGOUS Magnolia tree in our backyard when I was growing up.  Our yard itself was GINORMOUS.  It stretched way back the full length of our garage (this was the house my dad grew up in so the garage was not attached to the house- it sat to the right of the house and back) beyond the tool shed that was attached to back end of the garage and even beyond the clotheslines that were behind the tool shed.  At the clothes lines the yard made a 90 degree turn to the left and extended all the way to a dead end road--an L shape.  There was a Pecan tree, a Weeping Willow tree, a Plum tree, and that HUGE Magnolia tree in our yard.  The Magnolia tree was my climbing tree.

I spent HOURS of my childhood in that tree.  I sat up there to think and to ponder the wonders of the world; I sat up there with my cousin and friends and had deep, thought-provoking conversations; I often hid up there from my parents and other people when they tried to make me do something I didn't want to do like come in the house for dinner--I even fell out of that tree (injury free, thankfully...well, except for my pride.).  But my absolute favorite thing to do in that Magnolia tree was read.  The Rhinehart's, next door, had a two car garage in their backyard with an apartment on top of it.  If you sat in the Magnolia tree, in just the right spot, you could spy on the occupants.  And that's just exactly what Idid after reading Harriet The Spy up in the tree (yeah, getting caught at that was not a fun day).   

When Hubs and I bought this house 23 years ago, my FIL wanted to cut down the Magnolia tree in the backyard because, in his words, they are a "trashy tree."  But I refused, categorically stating that, "The girls should have the pleasure of growing up with a Magnolia tree."  The tree stayed and our girls spent HOURS of time up in that tree.  They sat up there to think and to ponder the wonders of the world; they sat up there with their cousin and friends and had deep, thought-provoking conversations; they often hid up there from us and other people when they tried to make them do something I didn't want to do like come in the house for dinner--and one or two of them fell out of that tree- injury free, thankfully.  And their absolute favorite thing to do in that Magnolia tree was read.  They even spied on the bad neighbors once they moved in next door.  Breezy is 26 years old and she was just up in the tree in January.  

Our Magnolia has given us shade in these brutally hot low-country summers.  It has serenaded us with gentle swooshes as the wind blew through it's branches.  It's leaves have adorned our mantle and wreathes at Christmas.  It provided our girls with a place to share secrets and giggles.  It continues to give us the biggest most gorgeous Magnolia blossoms every year.  It provides shelter for the birds (at my count, 16 species) and gives Tucker a place to chase the squirrels.  It even holds the lighting for our oyster roasts.

Through the years, I have come to understand that my FIL was right- the Magnolia is indeed a trashy tree.  Not only that but it has roots sitting on top of the ground like booby traps, tripping us on a daily basis and making the deck do weird things as well as a disease that causes it's leaves to have these white splotches on them.  It is way past time for the Magnolia to come down.

Hubs cut many of the tree's lower limbs last Spring.  And I have not been happy that he hasn't completed the job.  The nubs he left have new growth on them.  It's still producing magnificent blossoms.  And, when I listen very carefully, I can still hear our girls' whispers and giggles, ever so faintly, emanating down from high atop that Magnolia tree.

Maybe that's why Hubs hasn't finished the job.  Maybe I agree with him.



This is what I came up with after completing Mari McCarthy's FREE workbook:  We Are All Writers: How To Use Your JOURNAL To Cure Writer's Block Now.  If you'd like, you can visit Mari's website and take a look around.   Just click on the Blog tab to read her blog!

She will be sharing a guest post here on May 10th.  And I will be hosting a giveaway of one of her books!