Eva is a Monkey!

Bill and I passed our love for tree climbing to Will and Eva. We expect Lyra will love it too when she is older. Twice we have planned to evict this scrappy pine tree from our garden. But when it comes down to it, I can't bring myself to do it. Will and Eva have so much fun in the tree looking over all the backyards and fences and making friends with the neighbors around the corner.

At the first DeRonja house, there was a beautiful crabapple tree in the front yard. I loved climbing in the top of that tree to read my books, surrounded by the pink blossoms and sweet scent. I didn't even care about all the bees. I made Dad promise never to cut it down. He didn't. We eventually moved to a new neighborhood and the people who bought our old house cut it down.

Eva asked me, "What did you do when you didn't have your tree to climb anymore?" I thought about it and, unfortunately, the answer was "I cried." So, the scrappy old pine is here to stay.