Happy Tree Day!

To me, trees are among the most beautiful, magical, spiritual things on Earth. They have such grace, power, and wisdom about them. I feel comforted that, as the world spins around us, trees are steady. They are rooted and calm. I marvel at the trees that have stood for decades, or even centuries; the ways in which they have seen the world change, and yet they remain the same, ever silent and sure--growing steadily each year, taking the changing seasons in stride, looking down upon us from such a unique vantage point, as if they can see things about ourselves and the world that we cannot.

Today is one of my very favorite days of the year. I love, love, love trees. I love that there is an entire day devoted to them. And I love that Arbor Day always falls so close to my birthday, which makes it feel extra special!

Tomorrow, my father-in-law is taking Dan and I to Longwood Gardens and out to dinner for my birthday. I desperately miss the Gardens in Missouri, so I am really looking forward to being in a garden setting once more (in this case, 1050 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows!). As an added bonus, Longwood is having an Arbor Day celebration this weekend, complete with a guided tour of the magnificent trees on the grounds. I can hardly wait to bask in the beauty of the trees and the gardens.

So, as an early birthday present to me, go hug a tree today. That's right--I said go hug a tree. And let's do all we can to protect them!

The oaks and the pines, and their brethren of the wood, have seen so many suns rise and set, so many seasons come and go, and so many generations pass into silence, that we may well wonder what "the story of the trees" would be to us if they had tongues to tell it, or we ears fine enough to understand.
~Author Unknown, quoted in Quotations for Special Occasions by Maud van Buren

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated by Stuart Gilbert