Hannah and the Hashkediya

Outside of my bedroom window, I see snow piled up on the ground. It must have snowed through the night, I figured. I looked further into my backyard and saw my almond tree, also called hashkediya, meaning almond tree in my religious tongue. It was winter now, and my almond tree surely showed it. Its branches were bare and covered with the pure white snow that had fallen that night.

When I was little, my mother had told me that my almond tree definitely “changed with the seasons.” I didn’t understand. Now with the change of the seasons, I could see how the almond tree changes with them. My winter consisted of the normal fun playing in the snow. I couldn’t do too much with my tree in the winter, for it was covered in snow. That was winter.

It was now spring, and my almond tree had changed. My almond tree had its green leaves, but you couldn’t really see them because the tree was full of flowers. Spring was the season when my hashkediya bloomed its beautiful white and pink blossoms. I love to sit on a blanket and observe the bees going from flower to flower on the lovely tree, in the process of pollination. It was fascinating. That was my spring.

Summer, the hot, sunny summer, had now arrived ,and my almond tree had changed once again. The summer was when the tree would grow its almonds, and my family and I would harvest them. I would sit in my lawn chair and snack on my hashkediya’s almonds. They were delicious! In summer I swam and went to camp. At camp I missed my almond tree. That was my summer.

Autumn, fall, that was the season when my streets were bright with color, and my hashkediya was, too. Its leaves were bright yellow and shed onto the ground. I would jump in the piles of leaves and read a book underneath the tree’s shade. That was fall.

My hashkediya and I had changed through the seasons together. I will always enjoy witnessing my almond tree transformation.