When Morgan was a little girl, we used to read every night before bed. We read lots of Junie B. Jones books, some Roald Dahl, too…but her favorite thing to read together was Shel Silverstein poetry. We read the Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, even Runny Babbit. One night I pulled out my FAVORITE Shel Silverstein book and we started reading…
“Once there was a Tree…and (in our version)…She loved a little Girl…
And the Girl loved the Tree…”
“And every day the girl would come and she would gather her leaves…”
“She would climb her trunk, and swing from her branches…”
“And they would play hide-and-go seek…”
“And when she was tired she would sleep in her shade…”
But you see, this is where the book always took a turn for the worse for Morgan. The first time we read it, she could not believe that the boy took all the leaves, branches and when we got to the trunk…she was literally screaming “NO, NO, he can’t take it!” And she cried and cried and cried. And she hated the book, and didn’t EVER want to read it again. She didn’t understand that the Tree is the Mother…and she will give and give and give to the ones she loves…no matter what they ask…or what the price she personally pays for giving. And she still can’t read this one without crying…and quite frankly, neither can I! 
But we made sure it wasn’t all tears in her favorite tree! We grabbed some old and new favorites and enjoyed the SUN!!! 
P.S. Morgan…I will always be your giving tree! I LOVE YOU!!
