Trees, There and Here

The things we leave behind and what we find beyond

I left Ashley my Ash Tree behind when we sold our house. I had no choice, she has roots in the area. Where we’ve landed I now have a sort of abstract pink dogwood tree along a curving red brick path to the front door. She is delicate as a dancer and my long deep-toned wind chimes seem happy there. Near the street stands a tall old locust tree - perhaps a honey locust? The canopy is high and lacy. When individual leaves fall they are like pieces of confetti. Remind me this is charming when the grass is covered in them. This tree is a tall gentleman who makes his presence known with thick, imposing roots in the lawn. I’m told by a neighbor who knows that these roots have taken out more than one lawnmower. The motorized kind, not the human lawn mower kind.

Behind the house is an old tree - possibly a crabapple - which goes way beyond the description of abstract. Perhaps Cubist or even Brutalist would be a better characterization. The trunk is twisted and chopped away at odd angles. The branches curve and terminate abruptly and yet leaves still present themselves. This tree persists. It’s yet to be determined if this tree is a feisty old gal or a tough old ex-marine. It will let me know in due time - we’ve been here less than two weeks! The bird feeder now adorns one truncated branch. On this third day there it’s finally been discovered by the finches.

I love the brokenness of this backyard tree and the tall confused bushes. The idea that things must be trimmed and pretty and complete doesn’t hold much sway with me. Life is seldom trimmed precisely, and life is not always pretty. Death is not pretty, and Grief is the definition of being incomplete. A whole life has been cut away and somehow we find ways to incorporate the loss, bust out some leaves and eventually persist.

What do the missing parts of life mean in your day to day? Which terminated limbs do you miss most? Where do you hang the stuff that used to belong especially on that branch before?