Just a Tree

When S and I married, we moved into an old house on the farm my parents bought when I was a small child. My family spent weekends and holidays in this house with my parents planning to move here in the future when my dad retired from the military. The old house was to be remodeled/updated, additions added to fit our large family. Small projects were done over the years like adding a bathroom and city water. When the time came, my parents decided it would be easier to just build a new house in the spot of their choice.

We were blessed with the old house.

I love where we live. I love that I am living in the same place that I grew up. I love the huge old oak trees that majestically tower over the back of our house. I love their strength and beauty. I love the shade they generously share. I love imagining how old they must be.

For several years, we have been concerned that because of their age, their closeness to the house and the angle of some of the trunks that they have become a hazzard. Every time we had a storm, I would pray over those trees - that God would hold them up and strengthen them.

Our concern grew until we decided for safety reasons we needed to at least have the trunks and limbs cut that were leaning toward the house. We just couldn't bear to totally take down the trees completely.

Earlier this week we had a storm. It was during the wee hours of the morning and I slept through it. S recalls waking up to a sound that he thought was a limb breaking. The next morning, Caleb came into our room saying we had to get up, one of the oaks had fallen.

Sure enough, it was the biggest one directly behind the house - about 15 feet away. It had 3 huge trunks. We had cut the one that was leaning toward the house and left the other 2. What was amazing was the angle it fell. It could have damaged the barn behind - it missed. It could have crushed Noah's tree house and the fence to the side - it missed. It fell at an angle where it did no damage whatsoever except to the soft ground underneath.
Lucas took this picture of just one of the trunks.

While I am so thankful that there was minimal damage, I feel a great loss. It was "just a tree" but....it was alive. Not like us, I know, but it was living and old. We examined the trunks and wondered aloud how old it was. How many squirrels would miss the acorns it provided? How many birds would miss it craggly limbs to place their nests on? It had weathered many seasons, survived many storms and drought, shaded me as a child and my children later and my romantic notions say maybe even in the distant past- a pioneer or indian family.

It was a beautiful. I could see it from my bedroom window when I woke up each morning.
I know it's sentimental but I'll miss that old tree.