“The apple blossom exists to create fruit; when that comes, the petal falls.”

– Kabir

As the leaves fall from my apple tree, and my son begins to talk about pruning its branches at the end of the season, fond memories of the beauty it has brought to another year flood my mind — the way it stood stark and strong in the midst of the winter snow, the first buds of the green leaves that restored color to a Springtime landscape, the delicate white flowers that brought delight and sweet aroma to warming days.

I think of my parents, doing their trademark jitterbug to “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me” as they made their promises before Dad shipped out with the Navy for WWII.  I think of their reunion afterward and the way their dance progressed through the years.  I see them swaying as they hold each other close and sing “I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time.”  Every year when these delicate flowers appear, I have an urge to set a bench under the branches so that my sweetheart and I can sit there and gaze at the stars at the end of the day.  Every year, the blossoms last for such a short time that the bench has not yet become a reality.  Perhaps it will be one of the changes that we make as our own dance slows and we reach a time where sitting seems like a good idea.

Life is beautiful, from green buds to flowers, and finally to the fruits that appear as we ripen with age.  It is sad to say goodbye to the apple blossoms, but it is sweet to watch tiny apples appear in their place.

Picking ripe apples and enjoying a taste of their juicy flesh brings a sort of fulfillment that you simply need to experience in order to grasp its sweetness.  Without the bud, without the blossom, without the tiny first fruits, we could not enjoy the outcome of all the good things an apple tree has to offer.  Our lives are no different.  Just as the tree needs to grow and change from season to season, we also need to embrace our ever-changing lives.  Tonight when we go to sleep, we must lay down today so that our arms will be empty and available to embrace tomorrow.  We cannot hold onto the apple blossoms, but we can carry the memory of their sweet aroma as we look to the next surprise that lies ahead.  We must not let the sadness we feel when the petals fall deter us from welcoming what lies ahead.  Perhaps by knowing the sweetness of biting into an apple, we can better understand and appreciate the beauty of the blossom that allowed itself to fall so that the apple could exist.