I Remember This Tree

[Misty_Morning]

when I was a kid in MA.

I could see it as I looked out my window while in bed, first thing in the morning and last thing at night (backlit from the street lamps).

It used to greet me every morning and sing me lullabies at night.

I used to watch it pass through the seasons.

In spring it would bud and get bright green leaflets.

In summer, it would sway in the breeze with the weight of thousands of dark green leafs.

In the fall, I would watch with amazement as every day passed and a variety of colors would greet me.

In the winter, it stood alone...barren. All the branches naked to the wind, sometime covered with snow.


We don't get that here in Florida.



Sometimes I miss it.


Well, alot of times I guess.



What do you miss?


Think back...something....what was it?

 

[cantdog]

Tits and ass.

When you're sixty, they ain't for you any more. I miss 'em.

 

[rgraham666]

I once saw a tree that scared me.

I was in one of the bigger cemeteries here in Toronto. Off in one corner of it was this tree. For some reason the top had been cut off, leaving about five feet of trunk. And the branches grew back.

And they had grown back all twisted and bent, with this gruesome black bark. The best FX studio in the world couldn't have designed a scarier tree.

Couldn't get myself with twenty feet of it.

 

[jomar]

Less responsibility. But then, each age has its own real challenges.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I miss much. Pretty happy where I am, though that's maybe for now. But at times there are thoughts of opportunities...

 

[TE999]

Childhood memories, before life left me jaded:

Taste of a popsicle on a hot day

Running out of sheer exuberance

Being excited over a model plane, a tv show, dinner in a restaurant, a new pet.

Collecting comic books and getting lost in the stories.

The musty smell of a library and the endless shelves of books.

Tree houses and forts.

The new models of cars every year.

 

[SeaCat]

What do I miss? A lot of things.

I miss the winter camping trips with my father. (Crawl out of a tent buried in the snow. The air is crisper than crisp. Your breath freezes to the fur around your hood. You tamp down the snow and place a base of logs. On this you build a fire. It's still dark as the fire catches. You spread the coals a bit and put the coffee pot in one corner to perk even as you saw through the frozen rasher of bacon. You place the inch thick slices of bacon in a rack and set that over the fire. You set your coffee cups at the edge of the fire to heat up, you do the same with your plates. You watch the balls of fire coming off the fire as the bacon cooks. You pull the coffee pot off the coals and pour it into the cups. The smell of the coffee mixed with the woodsmoke and the odor of the bacon cooking. The taste of the strong black coffee. The taste of the bacon.) Trudging through the woods on snowshoes with everything you own on your back. Knowing that if you spot and shoot a deer it's dinner. (For several days.

I miss being ten years old in Upstate New York during the winter. Getting up well before dawn and eating a hearty breakfast before climbing into my snow gear. Going out to the barn and grabbing my sled with my rifle across my back. Kicking into my snowshoes and heading out for my trap run. I miss the adventure of finding my traps and checking them. Tossing the Muskrats and Rabbits and Fox onto my sled. Resetting my taps and going on. I miss showing up at school and stowing my sled in the shed out back before heading into school. Handing my principle my rifle and hearing him ask how my traps did as I stripped out of my outer clothing. I miss seeing my fathers eyes light up as he sees my haul for the day as I unload it on the front porch. Standing in the basement and skinning the animals, stretching the skins while I talked with my father. I miss the feeling of pride as I walked into the dealers shop dragging the bales of furs and getting paid for them.

I miss being 16 years old and working on the boats. Getting out of school on friday and firing up my little Kawasaki for the ride to the docks. Going aboard the boat with a bag loaded with my books and some clothes. Heading out to Georges Bank with the captain or one of the crew drilling me on my homework as we cruised. Standing alongside these old salts and pulling the nets and being accepted as one of them. Being taught how to navigate using the stars. Being taught how to control a boat in the worst of conditions. Being drilled in Chemistry as we rode the waves of a Nor'Easter. Getting my Mates License.

I miss being on a team of hard cases recovering stolen materials. I miss walking through a crowd with several of my team mates as we protect some damned fool. I miss being on the absolute edge.

I miss dropping into water so cold it burns on any exposed flesh. I miss dropping into water so geared up I felt like Gumby on a bad trip. I miss rolling off a boat and dropping to the bottom and holding onto a rock as I catch my breath from the cold. I'm wearing a 7 mm wetsuit with a 3 mm vest. My hood and gloves are also 7 mm. I dump my bladder, it's not a question of doing it. Your body does it without asking you. You feel a brief warmth then it's gone. After a bit your body adjusts and you move off. Visibility is shit, which means it's more than two feet and good. You search out the Lobster and fill your bag before heading up. You look for the boat and start swimming while hoping you haven't been blown too far down current.

On the other hand I don't miss the bone chilling cold.

Cat

 

[starrkers]

I used to have a list of things I missed: dry heat in summer, biting cold in winter, leaves changing to bright colours in autumn (coastal Australia is too warm for most the leaves to really get those great autumn colours, they just turn mud brown and fall off), the smell of rain coming in across the plains.
I don't miss those things now, because I'm back in the right territory to get them again, after 25 years away. And it is good.

I do miss my reading tree. One place we lived (we moved every couple of years when I was a kid) had a great tree to climb up and sit on a nice flat branch with your back against the trunk. I'd sit in that tree all day and read. Mum used to bring out lunch to me in it. Never found another one even close to as comfortable.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Tits and ass.

When you're sixty, they ain't for you any more. I miss 'em.

Who says? I'm 68 and I will never stop admiring them. Especially when they are nice and curvy and succulent.

 

[slyc_willie]

I miss the house on John F. Kennedy Strasse where I grew up. It actually wasn't a house, but rather one of a row of split-level apartments in a block near a local Deutches school. For whatevber reason, we had both the upper and lower floors, so we essentially enjoyed a two-story, six-bedroom home with two kitchens and a spacious, walled-in yard.

When I was ten, my sister thirteen, our father got us a dog. A long-haired red Dachshund. His original name was 'Zeno,' but we changed it to 'Nemo.' Eventually, I'd figure out that he would respond to any two-syllable word ending in 'o.'

Snow doesn't fall much in the Rhineland-Pfalz. The first time I ever saw it was, I think, in 1982. Fell by the bucketload. A good foot of the ivory stuff covered the enclosed yard of our home. I remember letting Nemo out and watching him dive into it, face-first. He'd dig, then surface, dig, then surface . . . sometimes, all we would see was his bushy red-brown tail making it's way back and forth, and my sister, my friends and I would mimic the music from 'Jaws'.

Nemo would come bounding back to us, caked in snow, tongue waggling and tail wagging.

I loved that dog.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Childhood memories, before life left me jaded:

Taste of a popsicle on a hot day

Running out of sheer exuberance

Being excited over a model plane, a tv show, dinner in a restaurant, a new pet.

Collecting comic books and getting lost in the stories.

The musty smell of a library and the endless shelves of books.

Tree houses and forts.

The new models of cars every year.

Yeah.

I hope I'm not seriously jaded, but I'm sure I am somewhat. I'm not so jaded that when I feel a hint of this I pay attention and savor it.

Good thread, Misty.

I remember waking up on summer mornings and looking out the window first thing at these big poplar trees to see if the leaves were quaking, which meant there was wind for sailing.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I miss my younger brother and I playing with our toys. Beyond that, my life has been phenominally better since I graduated high school.

 

[Xelebes]

I live in the land where the trees approach the look of trees in Lilliput.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Penny candy that cost a penny.

Rotary phones.

Buying 45's and running home to play them over and over.

Visiting Grandma's.

Figure drawing and Fashion Illustration classes in college.

Old friends.

 

[damppanties]

Tits and ass.

When you're sixty, they ain't for you any more. I miss 'em.

You're sixty? Years? Why do I keep getting shocked when people reveal their age in here?

I miss the rain. The monsoons. It doesn't rain like that here. *sigh* The rain here is so pathetic.

 

[FatDino]

I miss the rain. The monsoons. It doesn't rain like that here. *sigh* The rain here is so pathetic.

That's cuz you haven't seen it really rain yet.

 

[Boxlicker101]

That's cuz you haven't seen it really rain yet.

I miss the warm summer rain. We get plenty of rain but it's always in the winter, when it's cold and windy.

 

[faerymatron]

I grew up within walking distance of a Great Lake. I miss summer mornings - when I would wake up early and go to the beach. Sometimes I would practice my clarinet or trumpet on the pier; sometimes I'd just walk in the warm sand. And sometimes, I would swim between the piers, the sun just rising and reflecting off the water. I miss how the water felt on my bare skin, and the deep calm quiet.

I still live close to that place, but I am so busy now with other things (real life?) that I never get to visit.

 

[Guest]

Tits and ass.

When you're sixty, they ain't for you any more. I miss 'em.

You're sixty?????

(Our engagement is off.)

 

[damppanties]

That's cuz you haven't seen it really rain yet.

When does it really rain?

 

[oggbashan]

When does it really rain?

When El Nino hits you too. Where's your lifeboat?

Og

 

[damppanties]

When El Nino hits you too. Where's your lifeboat?

Og

...

 

[Guest]

You're sixty?????

(Our engagement is off.)

whatta bitch!
i still love you though. come on over to the dark side.


i miss the smell of the ocean and how the moon light would glint off the surface at night and the sun would bounce off the surface during the day.

i miss crabbing just for the sake of catching them and letting them go.

i miss the smell of baby oil in the sun.

i miss the motion of boats rocking gently at their moorings.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

I don't miss as much as I have.

I miss Boston the way it was before all the monied people moved in their multi-million dollar condos.

I miss the neighborhoods of the North End, Charlestown, and South Boston where you always knew where you stood. Now, it's awash in multiculture.

I miss complaining about the Red Sox, Celtics, and New England Patriots losing. It's boring when they win all the time.

I miss Kathleen Kennedy in a tight sweater walking by me as I stood in the corner acting disinterested in tough in my black leather jacket.

I miss boxing in the ring. I miss Robert Parker before he earned money and success and turned into an asshole. I miss Robert Urich, God rest his soul.

I miss my youth.

I missed my opportunity to be the organist for the Cars when Ric Ocasik invited me to listen to a session he and bed were playing in a coffeehouse in Cambridge back in 1972. They took drugs, a lot of drugs back then, and I didn't think they'd go anywhere. Duh!

I missed the chance to ask the love of my life to marry me. I asked her best friend instead.

I miss my '85 Mustang GT. I wish I had never sold it. It was the last year before fuel injection.

I miss my dog, Buster. He was a great dog.

I miss my Mom and my Dad. They're both dead.

Every time I see my daughters, I miss them until I see them again.

I miss a lot, but I enjoy the things that I have now more than those that I miss.

 

[Guest]

whatta bitch!
i still love you though. come on over to the dark side.


i miss the smell of the ocean and how the moon light would glint off the surface at night and the sun would bounce off the surface during the day.

i miss crabbing just for the sake of catching them and letting them go.

i miss the smell of baby oil in the sun.

i miss the motion of boats rocking gently at their moorings.

Oooh - the dark side.

Thought you'd never ask!!!!

 

[SensualCealy]

Growing up I lived in a small village where we still had the typical 'general' stores. I miss the walk around the block holding my mom's hand before pulling the big wood and glass door open to see the adventure about to take place.
The sound of the wooden plank floor squeeking as I danced my way around my mom as she got the groceries. The smell of pipe tobacco, fresh fruit and rubber boots all in one spot.

I miss our neighbour who would walk up to his mother-in-laws, who happend to live on the right side of our place, every Saturday morning smoking his pipe- the tobacco had a fruity sweetness that would blow towards our open windows.

I miss being in Heathers unfinished basement playing Barbies for the afternoon then hearing the church bell ring knowning it was dinner time.

I miss Friday and Saturday night get togethers with my parents friends. Their kids would show up, then the neighbourhood crew would get together to play hide and go seek. I miss the smile on my brothers face when they finally found me hiding in the window well, after I fell asleep.

I miss walking up across the 'big road' to the other store where the penny candy was abundant. If I was given 25 cents to pick up the mail I'd walk there to get a bottle of COKE- yes Coke for 25 cents. They were the little bottles, but perfect for a seven year old.

I miss getting the mail from the p.o. box and seeing a letter from my pen pals, at one point I had 5. From Sweden, Wales, Finland, Brazil, and a guy named Wolfgang that I cant remember where he lived. None of them sent letters anymore, but my friend from Sweden is coming this summer to celebrate our 40 birthdays together. We email constantly, sharing stories and venting frustrations of men and children.

I miss hoping on my bike and meeting up with Loraine and heading down to the bridge, hidding our bikes and going underneath to smoke snitched cigarettes from our moms.

I miss the first day of school, having my new shoes on, my brand new outfit- the only one I would get, and my school supplies, still smelling like fresh wood, clean paper and vinyl.

Now aday, I really miss the giggly smiles of my kids, the 'I love you mommy' that I would get just for the heck of it. The hugs and kisses, all gooy but filled with love. I miss the kids being excited about doing stuff with and for me. Wanting to spend time together, wanting to please me...oh how I miss...

C