I have leaves on my tree!

I have a small japanese maple tree that lives on my balcony. The lady that sold it to me last year reassured me it was one of the more "rare" kinds, not often found in the US. Its a cute little tree, more of a bonsai sized tree so far. Just a baby, really. It looked great until winter set in. Then it kind of crept in on itself, (like I would like to do sometimes.). It looked so bare and forlorn this winter I was sure I had killed it. I worried about it intermittantly all winter long. My friend's, Deb and Dan, who have lots of maples, were not so secretly laughing at me every time I brought it up to them. Over the last few weeks I have been watching my wee tree oh so carefully, waiting, hoping, for signs of life. It started slow, with a little peek at some tiny leaf buds. "Do I see what I think I see?" Maybe I hadn't killed it, after all. Every day, I check the soil, look at the tree, and send it quiet messages of life. (I really love this tree.) Today, on a nice, spring rainy day, I get out of bed, look out onto my balcony, and a reward. Some of the leaves are cautiously opening, like little tiny hands. Looks like my beautiful tree has decided to live, and I will try to remember this, and not fret so much about it next winter.