Can You Hear Me Now?

January 20, 2012

In the backyard of the first house in which we lived in Orlando there were several trees - some pines in the far back corner and then a tree we called the Ear Tree closer to the house.  I have no idea what the real, scientific name is for this tree, but we called it the Ear Tree because the seed pods resembled ears.  It was a great tree that provided shade (the leaves are rather like ferns), one of our bases when we played softball in the backyard, entertainment as we used the ears as projectiles (second only to the chinaberries in the backyard next door), and, of course, climbing.  One of the characteristics of this tree is that the roots often come up above the ground rather than growing straight down.  This is challenging when trying to mow around the tree or run around it in the dark.  It was a relatively easy tree to climb, so I decided one day that it would be a great place to sit and read.  Up I went into the tree, found a fork that seemed big enough, and settled in to read.  This was great - reading, fresh air, up in the tree - a perfect setup.  That is, until I suddenly found myself on the ground under the tree and unable to catch my breath because I had fallen out of the tree and landed on my back on one of the above-ground roots!!  Mom just happened to be standing in the kitchen looking out the window when I fell.  She came running to check on me and I'm sure it scared her pretty badly since I couldn't speak for a few minutes (not enough air!).  Luckily, I wasn't injured and have laughed about it many times in the years since it happened.  However, I don't think I ever tried to sit in a tree and read again!