Our One Maple

It was last year, that we tapped our Maple for the first time and it turned out to be one of my favorite days of 2009. This year, I was agonizing over tapping the tree at all because there would be a few days this month that we wouldn't be able to bring the sap up to Coolidge's Sugar Shack.

I had been in a bit of a "funk" the last month and then got sick, but when I pulled into the driveway after work a couple weeks ago and found three sap buckets on our porch along with a drill, a big smile appeared on my face. I was so happy that the Coolidge's remembered our one Maple tree that could be a part of their sugaring.

I immediately went over to the tree, drilled my three holes and then hung the buckets. Of course, the last hook wouldn't budge and so I sat on our ski lift chair waiting impatiently for Drew to get home to place the last bucket.

The darkness forced me inside and when I heard his car pull in the driveway, I rushed him over to catch the droplets of sap before too many had hit the ground.

The weather was perfect with warm days and cold nights. I kept checking the buckets and the sap level never seemed to change even after a few good days of steady dripping. I started thinking I was a little too crazy and stopped checking the buckets every two minutes.

Finally, I peeked in the buckets on Friday and there was nothing there! At this point I wondered if Cal was discreetly taking the sap for us when we weren't home. I stormed into his wife's place of work and asked if he was taking the sap. With her answer, yes, another mystery was solved and was glad we did not have a sap stealer on our hands. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and reflect on how lucky we are to have people remember us and our one Maple.