As humans we are gathering people, and I am not speaking of being hunters and gatherers. We like to gather in parks, in living rooms, at the beach, over coffee in the neighborhood coffee shop. Some places are better gathering places than others. Some are more comfortable, more beautiful, less noisy, more noisy. Over time the places people gather has changed. Take malls, for instance. While it is not in my nature to gather in a mall to meet with my friends, teenagers find it a good spot for coming together. Different strokes, different times.

It seems one place that people have gathered through out time is in a place where trees form some kind of grove.They gather there for protection from sun or enemy, making homes, pitching tents, building fires for cooking, warmth and, of course, storytelling. Trees can form a grove of identity for groups of people as my husband and I witnessed a week ago when we visited the state campground near Lake Mille Lacs. Walking among the trees that were adjacent to a smaller, more manageable lake than the bigger one, we walked the ground that was home to the native people so many years ago. You could still see how their homes must have been configured. As I stood there I sensed their presence, their wisdom, their understanding that, indeed, this was a good and beautiful place to be, to live.

Last week there was a wonderful story in the Star Tribune about a boy who had taken on city hall by trying to preserve a large stump of tree in the park that was the meeting place for he and his friends. "Meet you at the stump!" the kids would say as they planned for their daily activities. I was touched by this article. We have always had a scraggly grove of trees…more like bushes…that exists on our street. I think of all the times I have heard the words of the children in my house and in our neighborhood:"Meet you at the trees!"It was their place, no adults allowed, their place of ‘kid’ identity, the place where dreams were born and schemes were hatched.

We can name all of the great reasons for the existence of trees. Food, shade,beauty,shelter, home for birds and animals, wood for our own homes, and, of course, the very oxygen that keeps us breathing and alive. But it is also good to remember that groves of trees, all over the world, throughout time, have been the gathering places for lovers, enemies, friends and families."Meet you at the trees!" is still a call that sends us running for the place that connects us with our ancestors….to a place of safety, of adventure, of identity, of home.

"I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me."

  ~Wendell Berry