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September 30, 2008
Dutch Elm
A little over three months ago the elm tree in front of my house was marked by a neon orange ring of paint and labeled with a large "J". Shortly thereafter a note appeared in my mailbox notifying me that my tree was infected with dutch elm disease and it would promptly be cut down.
About two weeks ago I was terribly ill. My inner ear was off and all the world spun around. While I was flat on my back men stripped the tree's limbs from its trunk leaving a tall, miserable broccoli stalk in my front yard. It was pathetically sad looking standing there limbless, all alone.
Yesterday signs appeared reading, "POLICE ORDER: no parking between 7:00 - 11:00am!" I returned today from work to find the tree cut down level to the ground. Nothing remains now but the trunk.
The trunk seems larger now that it has nothing to hold it up. It seems that it would take two of me to embrace it. It is probably larger than twelve feet all the way around.
The entire neighborhood seems off to me. Although I'm not dizzy any more, without my huge tree to anchor me I feel off balance. Everything seems different: the house seems emptier now. The light that greets me in the morning is brighter but somehow colder and more foreign. The front yard is less sheltered and more exposed to the elements and the street.
This year has been a year of so many changes. The the removal of my tree was a capstone event. I'm hoping that soon the trunk will be ground away, a new tree will be planted and something beautiful can take root and grow in it's place. I'm looking forward to having my house feel like a home again.
Posted by jordanh at September 30, 2008 5:56 PM
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Comments
Hey, I just wanted to say "thank you." For this entry, for giving it justice- for it all.
That goddamn, frickin' tree... it was a good, poetic tree.
I think next year, plant a tree in your yard, so that you can call it your own.
Posted by: Spoon at October 6, 2008 8:59 PM
Posting comment...
Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
It is unfortunate that nature was not able to change as it intended to. However if the change was subtle would it have caused you to reflect on your life and the changes you have experienced?
Posted by: Jordan at October 2, 2008 8:27 PM