The Love of Dogs and Dogwoods.

by Michelle
(Lakewood, Ohio)

Since I was a little girl, I always loved dogwoods. I remember being told the name of the tree at one point and thinking little dogs were going to grow on it, just as apples do on apple trees. Of course, I quickly realized this was not the case, but I do think that it made me love the tree more than I would have if it had a different name.

I have just always through that dogwoods are so beautiful. When I was young, I had a dogwood growing just outside my window, and I used to dream of climbing out my window and climbing down the beautiful tree.

As a child who worried a lot about everything from burglars, to fires, to monsters, I always saw my dogwood tree as a way to escape my bedroom, if it ever became necessary. I used to get so excited when the flowers would begin to pop up all over the tree, showing that spring had truly sprung into life, and that summer was soon on its way.

When I grew older and moved from my parent’s house, I missed my old dogwood so much that I planted my own, just outside the bedroom window of my new house. I find comfort in the fact that every morning I can look outside and see a beautiful tree, sometimes covered in flowers, sometimes red berries, sometimes just leaves, and yet other times completely bare.

Even bare, I think dogwoods are beautiful, and still give me hope, because I know one day, they will bloom again and the world will again be beautiful.