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11.05.2011

How The Great Fall


Last night a few inches of snow fell.

And with it, fell my cherry tree.

It was an old beast, it's been in the front yard of my house ever since I could remember.

In the last few years it started getting sick, and we'd have to cut off the sick branches and seal it with this nasty black tar stuff so the tree wouldn't get swollen with water. Yesterday, only about half of it stood.

And this morning, from what I hear, none of it stood.

My parents had the foresight to plant a baby tree next to it, because we knew the days of good ol Nelly were numbered. Fortunately, the baby tree wasn't harmed.

Here are a few memories of this tree.

I remember climbing in it as a kid. On the west side near our house, there were four branches spaced perfectly, and you could climb them like stairs. By some mighty strange miracle, the center of the tree was hollow, so we could sit up in it's branches all day and talk and play. That's what we did.

We'd build swings in it out of paper, and hang our dolls in it.

We'd bring books up there and read.

We designated "rooms" in the tree. My "room" was where two branches curved like a U, and you could lay in it like a cradle. 

On one side, there was a long thick branch, thick enough to hold us. And it was slippery too! So we'd sit on top of it, push ourselves down, and as we got further out on the branch, it would bend to the ground like a slide, and we'd slip off.

I ate myself sick in that cherry tree. I'm actually not incredibly fond of cherries anymore because of that.

In high school, I was too old and too cool to hang out in a silly cherry tree. But I loved it all the same.

Friends and dates would pull into my driveway, I'd hide in the tree, they'd walk up to the front door, and I'd hop out of the tree and sneak up behind them and surprise them.

And now the tree is gone. It feels a little sad. Like when my parents sold the Subaru that I grew up with.

I still haven't seen my house since the tree fell. But it feels a little sad. The poor tree must have been really sick to fall over with just a few inches of snow. 

Well Nelly, we'll miss you.



3 comments:

Olive said...

A sad day indeed, I was fold of that tree too! D: I loved climbing in it!

Unknown said...

If I recall, we spent some quality times in that tree. I will miss it too :(

Kellie said...

I had a neighbor come up to me today and lament about it's demise, as well. It is just sad to see it go. We knew it had to be cut down, but that would happen on our terms. The tree seems to have set it's own terms. Good bye old friend. EVERYONE will miss you! And I do mean it!