Finding comfort in the life cycle of my backyard trees

When we bought this house 31 years ago, there were two little elm tree saplings across the road opposite our front windows, by the wildlife preserve at the end of the village green. They grew up to be big trees. They somewhat blocked the view, but they were pretty.

Last week, the village cut them down. Don't know why. They seemed OK to me. But the upside is that the view is now open.

Thirty-one years ago, we had four fruit trees in the backyard - two apple and two pear. We also had one sour cherry tree, not edible. The fruits on the apple and pear trees were not very pretty, but the deer and squirrels loved it when the fruits fell to the ground. Well, they are all gone now - they eventually gave out and blew down in past winters.

But it's very interesting to me that I have seven new self-planted trees in the backyard these days. Self-planted quite a while ago, just as they do in the forest, part of the renewal of nature. By now they are big trees.

One is a mulberry tree that produces great berries, popular with the backyard animals. And edible for me, too. It bears fruit in June and July. The seed for the tree likely came from my big mulberry tree near the driveway.

So trees have a life cycle. And I can identify most of my trees by the shape of their leaves. Two are silver maples, two are poplar trees, not sure of the others. But all are pretty. And strangely comforting. Why is that? I think comforting because it is a demonstration of continuity, of continuance, of the cycle of life.

So the point is: We can seek and receive a lot of solace from nature, and trees are a good example. You don't even have to leave home. If we stay in one place long enough, it happens. I didn't think that much about this until they cut down those old elm trees across the road.

I started looking around the yard and it was clear, and it was a happy and comforting thought. It was another reassurance that my dear Baheej is still here with me.

• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@comcast.net or see her blog longtermgrief.tumblr.com. See previous columns at www.dailyherald.com/topics/Anderson-Kleif-Susan.