Dead Tree

Every Monday, I wind around Union Street down Parkway Drive to Springbrook to pick up a carpool rider. They live in a cottage-sized home with an inclined driveway that I struggle to back out of. Its a narrow drive with deep ditches at the end of it. I can't seem to back in a straight line for anything, and have come perilously close to falling off the cliff on either side.

It took me the better part of three months to figure out how to back up correctly - I have just recently gotten the hang of it. So I proudly manuvered my way safely out onto Springbrook Drive, paying little attention to anything other than oncoming traffic.

I almost fainted when I pulled up even with the road and realized that a huge pine tree lay neatly across the lawn of the house across the street. How long had that been there and I had never seen it!!?? It had almost no roots at all, just a slightly thicker-than-the-truck section at the base. It must have been well over twenty foot tall. I wondered that it had fallen so precisely that it hadn't taken down any fences or porches or roofs, of which there were many to pick from.

My rider told me it had recently blown down in the last wind storm, sometime since I had last picked him up. At least I hadn't been totally oblivious. As I pulled away, I realized that this gorgeous pine tree was no more. It looked so lush and healthy. How sad to lose something that had been part of the neighborhood for so long. How thankful that no one was underneath it when it fell.

I hope they plant something beautiful in its place come Spring.