Oak by ElementRay932

Summertime was always Little Oak's favorite. In the fall, all his leaves fell off as he prepared to sleep. In the spring, he took all his energy trying to wake up. Without saying, in Winter he went into a deep slumber, nothing could awaken him up. Summer was the perfect time to do nothing all day and just watch the way a tree can.

Watch the children run around barefoot in the grass playing tag.

Watch the fathers and mothers sit on their beach chairs laughing and doing nothing.

Nighttime was also great during the summer. It was when the bugs and bats come out to play and when humans watched a movie using the big projector. His favorite movie was a romantic comedy called Flipped. Little Oak already knew he was asexual because he didn't desire a significant other but he saw the beauty of love.

He hated rain and thunderstorms because then his branches would whip the way the wind did. He wished he was a reed but he took a deep breath. Little Oak reminded himself that no he was a strong oak, a good oak who provided oxygen and shade to people. He will soon make acorns.

So Little Oak grew up.

He grew up watching summer love and proposals. The same couples came back with children in a couple years.

He grew up with a strong trunk and branches that was fatter than the wee skinny little trunk he had back in the day.

Now he was Big Oak, ready to take on the world and dig his already deep roots further in. His thirst for more water and more knowledge grew. 

So he did and along the way, he gave animals a home.

Big Oak's already humongous heart swelled everytime someone chose him over all the trees in the park, whether it was a girl using his trunk to lean on to read or the mushrooms growing in the shade he made.

Over the years he gave homes to four creatures: squirrels, birds, and humans, and bugs.

How the squirrels got a home was a something that took years of birds pecking the tree for bugs. Eventually, there was a huge hole in the middle of him that the wind nestled and whistled, especially in the fall where the leaves inside crunched.

In the fall the first year he had acorns (he might be a tree-parent!) a squirrel named Carrie climbed for some acorns. She used the hole in the trunk for hibernating in the winter. She stayed at the tree for three summers before moving on. 

He didn't know when the bugs came and leeched off him. They came from underneath, he guessed. Big Oak could barely feel them anyway. It was just the norm. It was also normal for the animals to try to get the bugs off of him. 

Trees cannot see as humans do, but they can feel pain, but not as much as we do, and can sense where the light is and laughter. They grow better when someone sings to them.

In the far, far, distance in the other way where the park was, he could feel the sun go behind city buildings, the building that was way past winding golf courses.

Humans that lived in the buildings didn't appreciate bird poop rained down on their heads.

So they brought it up to the owner's of the buildings and they shooed them away.

"This is our building! Go away birds, go back to where you belong!" they said, flapping their hands. 

The funny thing is, the birds had already been there first when there was untamed land. 

Before humans came and stole it without asking permission.

Before humans, "cultivated" it.

Either way, the birds needed a home. Many stayed in the city trees, but one couple, Mr. and Mrs.Berry flew downhill to the golf course and saw Big Oak. Big Oak was their home.

They had four children- Blackberry, Strawberry, and Raspberry, and Blueberry.

He was there when they opened their eyes.

He was there when they flew for the first time.

All good things must come to an end and at the end of summer, he said goodbye to the Berry family. Especially to Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Blackberry, he was like their godfather. He gave them shelter and comfort.

He was just a tree. A thing poking out from the ground. He couldn't move his limbs or have senses like we do, but he's helped everyone and everything many times.

Last but not least the humans. Humans had cut down his neighbor, Maple. Humans had used his tree before for shade to have a picnic.

The club decided it would be a great place people could look over the golf course and children to climb through, so they made a tree house of sorts.

Many things climbed up-dogs, cats, children, but the one Big Oak made the biggest impact was Nonna.

Nonna was lost and had dementia. She curled up into a ball inside Big Oak's shelter and sang lullabies as the summer night's thunderstorm raged on.

Luckily, they had found her in the morning. She hugged Big Oak goodbye.

The years went by in a snap and many more goodbyes followed.

Big Oak turned into Wise Old Oak who gave no more acorns and knew numerous more things about the world. He hoped he had children somewhere and that they were having a life peacefully as he did. 

Wise Old Oak stopped producing leaves and his roots stopped searching for water. His thin branches crumbled and his soul slowly ebbed away and was ready for what happens next.

Life goes on and it can be notoriously difficult but we should all live life like Oak did with love, optimism, and hope.