Tree Hugging

I love a winter evening when kids get to play outside because it's March Break. I dropped in to my daughter's house the other night after a meeting I had to attend, and Grampy was already there. He and Madie were in the backyard sliding. When he cleans the snow from their deck he piles it up over the railing so Madie has a hill. He was pushing her so she would whiz over the crusty snow.

She came around the corner of the house to greet me with vivid rosy cheeks and excitement gleaming in her eyes. She had such a healthy, happy look about her which is one of the reasons I love winter, even if it has been a long hard one. "Come on Grammie," she shrieks. "Come see me slide!" So around to the back we went, but we only had one trip, when she decides the front yard is better.

With grandparents and now Mummy in tow she speeds out the driveway and climbs up on the snowbank, hollering for Grampy to come push her. She seats herself on her saucer and Grampy gives a good shove. She speeds across the crust at a good clip, her saucer making a loop around a huge maple tree in their yard. "Don't hit the tree, Madie," I cried out. "Oh, I already did that!" she yelled back. What?! You hit the tree! I look at Grampy and he smiles back with chagrin.

"I'll show you!" she said as she trudged back to the snowbank. "That's all right I said. "I don't need to see it!" "No, I'll show you," she said excitedly. Before I could protest again, Grampy gives her a shove towards the tree. I hold my breath, but at the very last second the saucer swerves around and misses the big trunk. "Aw shoot, I missed it!" she complains. I breathe a sigh of relief. That's a sucker of a tree! Madie, you bring a whole new meaning to the term "tree hugger"!