Tree has become a shining beacon of hope

At the outset of the pandemic in March and the stay-at-home directive, I began working from my home office.

The spare bedroom does double duty as an office and a catch-all for things.

The room has only one window, and once the days began getting longer, I craved more natural light. So I moved my work operation to the dining room table. Ah, with a double window before me, I had ample light.

And smack-dab in the center of my view was a Japanese maple that grows in a flower bed along my front sidewalk. In late March, the tree caught my eye as I took breaks from editing and Zoom meetings. The branches were bare, of course, but it became a focal point each day — an anchor amid the daily uncertainty of COVID-19 and the upheaval in everyone’s lives.

As spring and warmer temperatures arrived, so, too, did buds on the tree. I don’t think that I had ever truly noticed them until this year, but they offered a glimmer of growth and promise.

And so each day, I began to study the

buds and the tree and appreciate the inherent beauty and peace that it offered.

As summer approached, the buds, of course, gave way to leaves, which almost covered my view to the front yard. But I didn’t mind because my tree had become a beacon of renewal, and seeing it thrive was invigorating.

And now that we are well into the fall season, my tree has never been more beautiful. In years past, the leaves have been a reddish color, but this year? It’s a vibrant, stunning red. The leaves began changing color about two weeks ago and they grow more gorgeous each day.

When the sunlight shines on the tree late in the day, it’s as if the tree is in a spotlight and it becomes even more spectacular.

Because the days are much shorter now, I have moved my workspace back into the home office, but I am still enjoying the leaves. I know, though, that soon there will be merely bare branches again.

But that, too, gives me comfort because I know that the cycle will begin anew. And although I’m still working from home, each day the tree will continue to be a beacon of hope.

Becky Kover is the At Home editor.

BECKY KOVER/COLUMBUS DISPATCH Amid a turbulent year, my Japanese maple tree has brought me joy and inspiration, and this fall its leaves turned a stunning shade of red.