{"id":1056,"date":"2017-04-24T11:23:15","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T15:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2017-05-13T11:56:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T15:56:20","slug":"the-cherry-tree-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/?p=1056","title":{"rendered":"The Cherry Tree Knows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1351 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0234\" width=\"584\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0234-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a>The cherry blossoms popped out this past week, throwing their abundance in my face. I wasn\u2019t ready for this. The large tree behind our\u00a0house in Brooklyn declares\u00a0that Lucian&#8217;s birthday is approaching. I watch the tree each year, holding a small\u00a0hope close to my heart: that it blooms its lush, pink\u00a0petals just around April 27th, that they will hang over us like they did on his second birthday when one\u00a0little friend came over.\u00a0We ate cake with strawberries and cream, and my curly haired boy\u00a0sat on my lap to blow out his candles. Or like they\u00a0bloomed for\u00a0his third birthday, when we invited other children to bring their tricycles and scooters, and they raced around on the driveway under the pink canopy.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been peeking at the buds all around our neighborhood, able to enjoy their occasional bursts of color and frivolity with a peaceful sense of appreciation. \u00a0At the same rate as the buds\u00a0themselves (tiny, timidly at first) come out, I&#8217;m drawn back into the circle of growth, dormancy, regrowth. \u00a0Life, death, life.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1360 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0053\" width=\"584\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0053-3-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6557-e1493047289902.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1355 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6557-e1493047289902-839x1024.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_6557\" width=\"584\" height=\"713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6557-e1493047289902-839x1024.jpg 839w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6557-e1493047289902-246x300.jpg 246w, https:\/\/annakovel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6557-e1493047289902-768x938.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cherry blossoms popped out this past week, throwing their abundance in my face. I wasn\u2019t ready for this. The large tree behind our\u00a0house in Brooklyn declares\u00a0that Lucian&#8217;s birthday is approaching. I watch the tree each year, holding a small\u00a0hope &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/?p=1056\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[217,251,18,149,193,17,226],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ICYG-h2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}