Published In The Great North Arrow, June 1, 2025: Backyard Biography

Backyard Biography

- jim Young

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” - Oscar Wilde

My lawn is a mixture of grass, clover and weeds. The grass represents the societal norm. That’s what a lawn should look like. Clover is my rebellion against the norm. The clover feeds wild animals like deer and sustains bees. And it’s still soft on my bare feet to satisfy the original purpose of my lawn. Is it pleasing to the eyes? Margaret Wolfe Hungerford would remind us that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”... so, yes!

The weeds however, represent my rebellions that went wrong and had a negative or less than satisfactory ending. I leave them there as a reminder. An occasional thistle in my foot reminds me not to step there again.

Around my deck and the edges of my lawn are flowers like Daisies, Black Eyed Susans and the flowering CatMint. They too are weeds really, but unlike the unwanted weeds in my lawn, they add beauty to my life and remind me that sometimes even negatives can have some benefit.

The multitude of leaves on my cherry tree are my family, my lovers, my friends and even casual acquaintances. They are varied in size, shape and colour and they all add value to my life. The tree has roots that spread beneath the ground, reaching as far out below the ground as the branches do above. I am grounded. The many branches and roots provide me with diversity. With branches ever reaching to the sky, my footing will be held fast to where I belong.

The tent caterpillar nests in the branches of my tree remind me of my darker days when I strayed from my path in search of truth. They are periods of my life that may have been ugly from the outside, and Hungerford’s advice notwithstanding, beautiful on the inside, at least to the caterpillars that have not yet transformed into moths. They will one day emerge and become as beautiful as their cousin the butterfly - beautiful, light and free just as I have done.

The dead branches of the pines to my left are the strokes and illnesses I have survived in the past and the ailments I will ultimately suffer in the future. They are cancer, stroke, heart attack, liver and kidney failure, whatever affliction is destined to one day strike me down and render me the dead tree that stands to my right.

This tree symbolizes my death, but I have not yet fallen. It stands as a reminder that when I am dead, I will not fall until the final memory of my existence is extinguished.

I could take down these dead branches and trees, but to what end? I cannot pretend it’s a path that does not await me and instead they serve as a reminder of my eventuality which keeps me focused on now.

And lastly we come to my wood shed. The chopped and split logs in my wood shed are my legacy. I leave no monuments or buildings in my name standing as an Inukshuk to forever proclaim, “I * Was * Here!”. I will live on briefly in the memory of those who I may have touched in some small way during my time and provide them warmth for one more season after I am gone.

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