Today is Tu B'Shevat, the new year for trees. This was my dad's favorite holiday. The Jewish earth day, he called it. Every year, we donated trees to Israel, and he'd tell us about how when we grew up and went to Israel to visit, we'd walk through a forest of Abby and Anna trees. I think in my head, I imagined that the trees people donate for Tu B'Shevat have little plaques at their roots that say who donated them, and that they would all go in one centralized place, and that Abby and I would go together and search for all the ones with our names and our parents names on them. I'm old enough now to know that those trees get planted all over the country, and that there are no plaques. But I still want to go to Israel someday and wander through the Abby trees and the Rachel trees and the Jonathan trees. I won't know which ones they are, but maybe that's the point. That I don't have to know where my dad is to find him everywhere. I donated a tree in his name this year, and a second one in the name of me and my mom and sister together. Two more trees to wander through when I finally go to Israel.

So it's Tu B'Shevat. A day of cleaning up the earth and planting trees. A day of eating Israeli fruits, like dates, pomegranates, figs, and olives. A day of celebrating the planting season, the putting down of roots that will bear fruits a year from now. A day with so many meanings, so many important practices. A day that is all about replenishing and remembering that a harvest doesn't just happen, we have to do the work first.

So it's only fitting that today I had my first day at a new college, one where I plan to stay until I graduate. I put down my roots today. I feel a little strange. It wasn't anything like Oberlin at all. It couldn't have been more different. I have to admit, I cried a little, more because of how unfamiliar it was than anything negative. But I also was so happy to be doing this for myself. I'm making a statement, that this is where Anna Stevenson needs to be planted to be fruitful. This is where I need to be, so that I can grow and be strong. I'm happy to be here, with my friends, with my mom. It's okay that I feel like only a little sapling and not quite like a tree yet. It's okay that I see that everyone else's roots are planted a little more firmly than my own, because I know that in a year, I'll be steady in this ground. I sank my toes into the soil, so to speak, and I feel connected to this place.

Today is Tu B'Shevat, a day for planting trees, for putting down roots, for building a forest from the ground up. I feel strong today. I miss my dad today. I miss my mom and my sister today. But in myself, I feel strong. And that's a really wonderful feeling.