Going Out On a Limb

When I was younger, sometime in grade school, one of my favorite things to do on a late summer afternoon was stick a book in my back pocket and climb up my grandfather’s apple tree. There was a limb just high enough up that I could perch there out of sight and spend the afternoon reading. The trick was getting to it.

The best branch for reading on was not easily reached. I would climb up to a somewhat lower branch, stand and steady myself, stretch out my arms and then launch myself in a forward fall so that I could I grasp the target branch on my way by. Fortunately I didn’t miss. And once I was dangling from the desired branch I could swing myself up on it and settle in for a good read.

I really did love reading in that tree but truth be told that isn’t why I started climbing it. I did it because I loved climbing trees and when I looked up and saw that branch I knew I had to get to it.

The first day I climbed up there I waited in the tree until my father came home from work and could help me down, because while I figured out a way to get to that branch (a method I would be terrified to see my daughter attempt) I hadn’t found a way I was comfortable getting down. The wait was longer and less interesting than I wished. This didn’t keep me from climbing up subsequent days, but after that first day I climbed prepared. I brought a book to read while I waited.