This post is the third in a series to celebrate California Arbor Week. Today, we hear from Ashley Mastin, the Network and Communications Manager at California ReLeaf.
As an employee of California ReLeaf, I may get in trouble for admitting that my favorite tree is not, in fact, in California. Instead it’s on the other side of the country in South Carolina where I grew up.
This oak tree is in the yard of my parents’ house. Planted by the first owners of the house in the 1940s, it was already big by the time I was born in 1980. I played under this tree during my childhood. I learned the value of hard work raking up the leaves that dropped every fall. Now, when we visit my family, my children play under this tree while my mother and I sit comfortably in its shade.
When I moved to California ten years ago, I had a hard time seeing anything other than the freeways and tall buildings. In my mind, trees like the oak were all over South Carolina and I had just moved to a concrete jungle. I thought that until I went back to visit my family for the first time.
As I drove through my small hometown of 8,000 people, I wondered where all of the trees had gone. It turns out that South Carolina wasn’t as green as my favorite tree and childhood memories made me remember it. When I returned to Sacramento, instead of seeing my new home as a concrete jungle, I could finally see that, in reality, I was living in the middle of a forest.
This oak tree fostered my love of trees and for that reason, it will always be my favorite. Without it, I wouldn’t have the same appreciation for one of my favorite forests – the one I drive in, walk in, and live in everyday.