Our Favorite Tree/Landscapes of the Sacred, Crystal Cyr

"Go outside!" my mother used to shout, when my brother and I were being rowdy. So we put on our grubby old tennis shoes and went out. We usually played in the woods behind our house. We pretended to be pirates and indians and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When I think back on it, in all of those games we played, there was one common factor. A really big tree. It was the largest of all the trees in the woods behind our house, and it was perfect for climbing in. You could also hang an old sheet from one of the branches and make a great pretend indian teepee. The trunk of the tree was stout and the fat limbs shot out of it about four feet off the ground, which is perfect when you're about ten years old. It was the best tree ever.

The tree was sacred to my brother and I. It was a place to burn energy. It was a place we could go to when we were mad or upset. No one else used the tree like we did. We were the only people who thought of it as a safe place, a place we could make into anything we wanted it to be. It was a place were we could just be kids...and be as wild and rowdy as we wanted to be. We used to play out there until the sunset. It was our favorite place. In a way, that big old tree chose us. It helped us to connect, to make an awesome brother-sister bond that we still have to this day. If I went back to that tree today I know I would still feel safe. I would still feel at home. I would still feel connected to that place.