I slowly pull myself up on the branch. My leg gets scratched on the rough bark. The wind blows and sends the leaves around me rustling, nature’s music. I wind tickles my nose with the scent of the leaves and the grass below me.

I look down at the earth below me. Everything seems so small compared to me. For once my 5' 1 and 3/4" body is not being looked down upon. An ant crawls across a dark grey rock below. How large the world must seem to him. Meanwhile, it all seems so small to me, at least during this short moment. Odd that I was standing in that spot just minutes ago.

I have sat in this same spot so many times before. As a child, I was barely large enough to fill the space between the two branches. Now I must squeeze myself in, trying to get the wild twigs stuck in my hair or caught on my clothes. These branches feel like my second home, tucked away amongst their crevices, I have always felt safe. I used to look out my window at night and imagine sleeping there, wrapped up in my purple butterfly blanket. Feeling the breeze and watching the stars. Moonbeams piercing through the leaves and brushing my face as my eyes would flutter shut.

Now I still wonder if I could. Just sleep in my tree. Maybe I could just stay here for a tad bit longer. Just let myself feel big and powerful for a few more minutes. Just leave the worries of the world down on the ground while I stay high in the sky.

I glance up and spot a robin, branches above me, slowly preparing her babies to leave the nest and fly. I squint into the sunlight at the small family of 4, 3 babies and their mama. I have grown in this tree like those small birds. I have gotten many bumps and bruise, scrapes and cuts. Been scolded by my parents to come down before I fall out. I have seen multiple birds grow and leave, year after year. Like a mother, the tree has prepared me for life, forever cradling me in its branches.

Now as I climb down, I slowly become small again. I glance up one more time, smiling again. Meanwhile down the street, another little girl is climbing the tree in her back yard for the first time.