The Colors We Choose: A Park Just For Trees

We headed back to the National Arboretum after three seasons away from it. Last December it was nearly completely dormant when we visited, and it felt good to be back on a warm, sunny day. All the leaves seemed to be unrolled and were lit up as they gathered sun. J took my camera and snapped one hundred pics of everything that was growing in pots, plots, gardens, planters, and groves. The wide array and variety of these botanical creations fills me with curiosity and questions: how did all of these things come to be? How did the Creator come up with all of this?

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum is filled with hundreds of examples of this Asian tradition of cultivation. We were going through at a pretty fast pace, led by our very efficient photographer, but I stopped about every ten trees to marvel at the complexity of each tree form. J voiced his dream to have a bonsai garden of his own in the wealthy days of his future.

We took a walk through the Asian woodland section of the Arboretum. It smelled so good. The slope added to the curves of the trails and the rounded shapes of the japanese maples. It seemed that summer has softened this part of the forest.

The main reason we were at the Arboretum was to meet up with JJ, recently returned from the UK with her family in tow. I love this girl that I was a girl with. And I love her little girl and her boys, too. We ran through the herb garden and the columns and through through the woods.

Our girls were quiet and shy towards each other, and our boys were rowdy and silly. It was pretty perfect.

This might be my favorite photo of our weekend in DC. I don't think J and I did much dreaming as girls about raising our kids together, but it makes me laugh to see them tramping down a trail together. The one of the left below, he just might be my favorite. At least of that day. I cannot wait to have more conversations with him about the world and how it works.