"Summer Snow"

As a child, our basement house was built into the hillside of the treeless Southern Alberta foothills on the verge of flattening into the expansive prairie. The closest trees were a good 1/2 hour by horseback to Kaye Woodard's, a couple of miles up the road. Their little brown house was next to a bridge on a coulee surrounded by TREES. On beautiful summer days, lying on a little cot in the grass we watched the clouds through the leaves and thought heaven couldn't compare. I yearned for my very own stream, bridge, grass and TREES. It was never a conscious goal and I don't think I ever believed that my dream would come true but I dreamed and wished anyway. It makes me reflect upon Alma's statement in Chapter 29, "for, I know that he (God) granteth unto men according to their desire...." for today some 60 years later, two streams meander lazily past our home. The banks are lined with native Cottonwood Trees -gentle giants that grow profusely, their mammoth trunks straining the bridge girders and deforming the deck flooring. Every year they shed forth their froth filling your eyes, nose and lungs, irritating allergies and decorating your car and clothes. Do I love them? Yes I do, passionately! Remembering my childhood desire, I find myself filled with gratitude for my bridges and creeks, the refreshing 40 degree pond with its 52 second feet of water (whatever that means but is very impressive to fact-spouting men like Sid), the hundreds of trees and the full acre of grass surrounding our house. One magical morning I walked out the front door and for the first time saw the flowers buried in 'summer snow" thanks to my beloved Cottonwood Trees.