Tom and I decided before we had Isaac that for our babies first birthdays, we wanted to plant them a tree in the backyard. One of the benefits of getting married later in life is being able to hopefully make your first home your last home, and that’s definitely our intention here. So, as we thought about raising our family in this home, we thought it would be fun for each of our three kiddos to have their own tree in the backyard. We knew when we got married that we would have three kids, so when we bought our home knowing it would hopefully be our last home, we staked out spots in the yard for each of their trees.
On Isaac’s first birthday, we planted him an apple tree. It has sure grown over the last two years and this year is actually producing some apples that we’ll be able to eat!
Last year on Zoey’s first birthday, we planted her a dwarf peach tree. Though it hasn’t grown quite as much as Isaac’s, it wasn’t meant to and is instead turning into the cutest little tree with bright pink blossoms this year. Zoey loves helping us water it and tells everyone it’s “her tree.”
For Benny’s first birthday, we wanted to keep the tradition going. Instead of going with a fruit tree though, we opted for a fruit-sounding tree called the Flowering Pear. It doesn’t actually produce fruit, but rather grows big and tall and provides great shade. We thought this was appropriate, because we like to think of Benny watching over us just like this tree will “watch over” our home. It also has the most beautiful white flowers, which remind us of our angel boy’s purity and goodness.
Life sure never goes as expected, but we’re grateful for the little things that help us stay grounded. Like birthday trees. There’s so much symbolism in trees and growth, which I’ve actually written about before here, and I love that we now have a “Benny tree” in our yard to continue to remind us of that.
That growth happens gradually over time, even when we don’t see it.
That our roots are what matters and how we stay strong.
That beauty can be found even in the storms.
And that our angel boy is always near, watching over us in his own special way.