Tree Huggers?

I’m not sure how to properly define a tree hugger, but I know that today was the first time I really started to wonder – could it be true? Have Tony and I become nature-loving, tree-huggers?

It’s Thursday (now 12:07 a.m. Friday) and we’ve just ended another immensely enjoyable day off. It was hot and windy outside this morning, and hot and muggy inside our house. We needed to be outside.

First things first, we had to accomplish a few chores around the house. #1- Laundry. For the past couple of months, we’ve been hanging clothes out on a clothes line in our backyard on hot, windy days like today. There’s something very refreshing about hanging clothes out to dry. And something very hysterical about my husband’s underwear in the middle of the backyard for the neighbors’ viewing pleasure. Hanging clothes outside is definitely an eco-friendly move, and it makes us spend a lot more time with the 2 trees suspending the clothesline – does that classify us as tree-huggers? Not quite yet?

During lunch on the porch we had a deep discussion about whether any of the 4 trees in our backyard made for good climbing trees. Since we’ve only been in the house for a few months, everything still feels pretty new. Our deep conversation over the trees led us to realize we didn’t really feel as if we “knew” our trees. We know a few things about them– they terrify us every time it storms, they leave tons of sticks in the yard every time it rains or the wind blows, they provide some pretty sweet shade, and we’re scared silly about how large a mountain of leaves they’ll create in the next month. But we don’t really KNOW them. You may think I’m crazy with this personification of our trees…I probably am. Would you agree that there’s something about climbing a tree that makes you really love the tree?

I wouldn’t be able to get into any of our trees without a ladder, so I thought it would be a perfect job for my super-human, burly husband to experience the tree climbing for the both of us. He gladly obliged. After a few minutes of plotting his climb, he ran from the neighbor’s yard and somehow scaled the tree trunk to begin the climb. Our 60-something retired neighbor looked on in wonder. Just to clarify - it was more of a “how old are my neighbors??” look of wonder on his face than a “wow that guy is incredible at tree climbing” wonder. My look of wonder was more of the latter. :)

That simple tree climb left both of us feeling a little more at home in our backyard. Trees were made for climbing.

Readers - I guess it’s up to you to weigh in. Are the Widdels tree huggers?