The tree outside my neighbor’s yard is starting to change colors. The yellows are melting into reds, which will become crimson. It is a Maple tree, alone in its location and uniqueness. There are other Maple trees much further away. None have shown any sign of transition into Fall.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason for this tree to be showing off. The night temperatures haven’t been below 60 degrees, yet here this tree is, a harbinger of Fall.
There are a few more signs around the neighborhood. Some of the apple trees are shedding their access loads. The trees are not attended. The apples are not thinned to permit larger growth and less stress on the branches.
The apples are like the shedding of leaves from the many deciduous trees here. Apples are all on the ground. All have to be picked up and discarded into trash bins. All have predictable time sequences.
The trees don’t sit around and philosophize. They just know when it’s time to groom themselves of excess and unnecessary accouterments, the leaves and fruit they have produced all summer.
Trees are unlike humans with our various, although patterned, responses. There are stages of behavior which have been theorized. One of my favorites is by Robert Havighurst, a developmental psychologist of times past.
Havighurtst proposed a learning theory in which he identified stages and tasks to be learned across the ages of a lifetime, called developmental tasks. The tasks, which would arise at or about a certain period in the life of an individual, required attention and learning.
The successful achievement of the stage-specific task resulted in happiness and success with later tasks, while failure resulted in unhappiness for the individual, disapproval by society and difficulty with later tasks.
One task for our age group (Later Maturity) is adjusting to decreasing strength and health. No matter how much we exercise and eat right, we are going to lose strength and develop age-related health issues.
If trees were categorized according to Havighurst’s tasks, those mentioned above would be in Early Adulthood, where the task would be starting a family and raising children. The tree's children, of course, are the winged seeds from the Maple and apples from the apple trees. The apple is just ridding itself of excess Granny Smith baggage, likened to having too many children for whom to care. The maple is behaving in an unorthodox manner.
So why is the little Maple starting to show its colors at this time of year, which is early? If it is figuratively Early Adulthood, it should be full of vim and vigor, not getting itself set up for winter by shedding its summer clothes and draining its Chi into the roots for the cold season.
I would expect that of those of us in Late Maturity. We have good reason to protect and guard our strength. We let it out in increments as we don’t have excess anymore to spew it wastefully.
The Maple isn’t sharing its motivation. Is this an early warning? Should we (or I) start to winterize? Should I devoid myself of excess baggage? Is it just Nature's way?
I can’t drain my Chi into my roots, but I guard my strengths for the coming winter. It will be the second without my wife. It’s going to be a long winter.
Let me know how you are doing. I care.
Contemplations: Nature’s biologicals are as unique as ours.
Sincerely,
Lynn Brooke
© 2023 Our New Chances
Photo Credit: © 2023 Rachel Gareau
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