My sister, Melanie, and I before we knew what was happening, although being almost two years older, I was beginning to.

 Melanie’s side yard in Northeastern Pennsylvania where she is a weekend gardener of purples.  This Japanese Maple has been dessimated by storms a couple of times, but this year, shaping it was easy.  That’s my job every Spring and I am most proud to contribute to her beautiful vision of country life.

As sisters who know everything about each other, so alike in some ways that we are taken for twins, yet so different too, we live in a combination of fierce love one minute, and then a clash bangs in and we slide down a slippery jagged slope of unspoken grief that only families can do.

Forever united, we stand apart like two trees on one ancient estate.

And miraculously, in spite of lengthy history, our happenstance upbringing, and distinct universes, we are civilized creatures who recognize in each other, the magic Maples that grow inside.