MOURNING OF THE TREE

I am a tree hugger, always have been and I always will be!

The oak's limbs were thick and low, also plentiful. This tree was wide and high, a magnificent and splendorous creation of nature! One look and I longed to be child again grabbing branches and climbing all the way to the top. I could imagine seeing the neighborhood from a bird's eye view.

This particular oak tree had a magical quality about it like something you'd read in a child's storybook. I could visualize it as a major condo/business center for the many squirrels and birds in my yard; or even a hang-out for faeries in the wee hours as dawn was breaking or banshees shrieking on its branches during a hurricane.

I recall being awakened after midnight by an eerie sound. I looked out my window. It was coming from that tree. Out of curiosity I hurried downstairs and grabbed the big flashlight. I went outside and shined it up thru the branches. The sound came from an owl! I'd never seen one in person before. We made eye contact.

I told that owl to be quiet I was trying to sleep. I went back inside to bed. Miraculously it remained silent. And I've never heard it since.

I had the coolest and most beautiful tree in the neighborhood right in my front yard! Visitors were awed by it and often commented on its beauty. It certainly gave my home curb appeal.

Sadly a day came, the one destined to remain in the infamy of my memory forever. It happened on a Saturday. I was up at 5:30 AM and brought my newspaper inside. As I ferreted thru its pages my overhead light went out leaving me in darkness. In retrospect, I wonder if that was an omen.

This was last April, the start of the Covid-19 shut-down. Otherwise, I thought it would be a normal Saturday.

The oak's branches started overgrowing into street and needed trimming. I asked my yardman to do it. Around 4:30 PM while engrossed in a Lifetime movie I heard buzz saws outside. My yardman had trimmed this tree before, so I didn't worry. -- Big mistake!!!

About 45 minutes into the movie I happened to get up to look out my front window. I thought I was going to drop from a heart attack, I couldn't believe what I was seeing!!! The huge lower branches were all down!!! I shrieked and motioned for my yardman and his crew to CEASE!!! Ballistic I ran outside!!!

They looked stunned.

"I didn't tell you to take the whole tree down!" I hollered. "I only wanted it trimmed!"

My yard guy couldn't understand why I was so upset. "Grass will grow there now that those branches are gone," he told me. "You'll have a nice lawn."

Grass is ordinary and common! That tree was a beauty and a rare treasure! Not only did it give my home curb appeal it provided just the right amount of screening from my neighbors!

And now since ruined, the only way I could get that back was to hire a professional landscaper. In other words, I'm going to be out more money that I can't really afford to spend!

I thought of firing my yardman on the spot! However he has been with me for a long time now and unlike many of the previous ones did far more than just mow & go. He also raked, trimmed hedges, and fixed my sprinkler system every time it malfunctioned and also did other outside jobs.

However he didn't trim my tree, he BUTCHERED it! Think of going for a manicure and having your fingers cut off at the knuckles! The tree remains, but its magnificence and beauty are gone. Imagine Elizabeth Taylor during her height of glamour having her nose cut off along with an eye gouged out! That tree was a superstar in my life!

The following day, I called my friend Marie and cried on her shoulder. She had a similar experience and was sympathetic. Marie told me that tree trimmers and men in general don't care about aesthetics the way we do. But eventually I'll grow accustomed to the way my yard looks now.

I'll be dead first, before that happens! Even now, I can't look outside my front windows without wanting to cry. It's just more thing in life that I enjoyed, now gone forever!