A Tree Lives On

We were so excited two summers ago to get our new trees. But last November, someone took a knife to our little tree in the front of the house and removed all the bark around the middle of the trunk. When a tree's bark is removed like that, it's a mortal wound.

Our first reaction was anger, then sadness. What kind of loathesome human being would do this? It would have been less painful if it had been an animal. We'd worked so hard to get that tree. We'd had to wade through the city's bureaucracy. Christina diligently watered and cared for the tree. Then I spent an entire summer pouring concrete and putting stones around its base. Because of that tree, our house felt more like a home, and we felt more rooted in our neighborhood.

We didn't spend very long in our funk. By the following day, we'd decided to get a new tree. We found a little cherry tree at Green Fields Nursery on Falls Road, and planted it in place of the tree we'd lost.

The little tree has started to blossom. Happy little blossoms.

Happy blossoms.