My childhood friend is a tree, The Tree outside our apartment where I spent my childhood on it. Why? If you know 1970’s China, you probably know that intellectuals like my father (an architect) and my mother (a college English teacher) are in hardship. My only sister was sent to Inner Mongolia. When nights fall, I would climb on its branch, waiting with terror that I might not see my parents back
I went to search it today but the tree is gone…. very sad and confused, just as this photo - the past becomes a void.
A touching story. One of the joys of 365 is the window it offers into different lives around the world. Sorry about the tree. Sne things you just want to stay the same forever.
Sad about the tree, but the old saying applies, you can never go back, you can only move forward. My husband was in the RAF in the UK and we lived in Cyprus for 3 years, we returned to the UK and it had changed, we had changed and so we came to Australia. Back doesn't exist I have learned. Keep the memory and move forward.
Yao.....such an experience and such an appropriate picture to support it. We have grown from the past, though and it seems that it is possible that you don't need your tree anymore! This is a very special story that you tell! Thanks!
I agree with Sharon. The tree is not there because all the hardship is gone and therefore so is the tree. It signifies a new life without the anxiety you had before. Don't be sad!
That's a very touching and personal story, beautifully illustrated by this image. I love how everything fades into nothingness and there are just the faintest traces of the objects in your old childhood garden.
You wrote a very moving story and the picture truly captures the emotion. I remember the first time I went back to see the house I grew up in and it had been remodeled and the yard had been completely changed. The screened porch we used to play on was closed in and one of the beautiful Dogwood trees in front had been removed. It is sad to see those precious places altered by time. But no one can change the memories they gave you and the impact those places had on the person you became. fav
Amazing story and best illustration for it! I must admit it forced me to think about my childhood trees and about the dear places of childhood and it was really hard! Because here everything is filled with poignant sadness of lost heritage... And I thought that only in Russia people love and hate it in the same time, it doesn't kill us but makes us stronger and left scars on our souls... But looking at this picture I somehow thought that you may have the same sensation of bitterness and aching nostalgia...
