If Ever a Tree was a Friend

Second Post of the Day

Well, I did it. I finally gathered up my courage and drove out to Morainewood. I hadn't been there since the house, barn, and summer house were razed, and I hadn't been there to pay homage to the old oak that had fallen earlier this summer.

It was time to go.

I pulled in the driveway and stopped. The river pasture was being kept mowed and, aside from the missing fencing, looked as it did fifty years ago when we ran horses on  that land.

The cottonwood tree that stands sentinel at the bottom of the driveway is at the end of its life span, too.

Parasitic vines climb it now and are slowly taking the life from it.

I gasped aloud when I looked up the driveway.

The oak was lying across the top, so long that both ends extended beyond view. It was massive and the thought of it having fallen and lying there made the tears begin. I loved that tree, just as my siblings and parents did.

The tree blocked the rest of the way up the driveway

and was hanging over the edge of the ravine. I stepped close to see if I could still see the stairs that led down to the horses' paddock, but they were buried under the limbs and dying leaves.

The roots had decayed so badly, they simply snapped instead of uprooting with the oak. No wonder it had toppled in the wind - there had not been much to hold it in the soil any more.

I walked over to the tree and set my hand on it for a while, thinking of all the years it was a part of my life. If ever a tree was a friend, that one had been it. So many happy memories included it.

I really wanted a selfie with the tree to have for my memories, but I kept starting to cry.

But you can see that the oak's trunk is so massive, I couldn't see over it. It was a true behemoth.

As I stood there with my hand on its trunk, I spied some color along the edge of the woods.

There are lots of native wildflowers on the property

and these are Tall Bellflowers. I plucked a stem and set it inside my car, took a last look at the tree and where my home had stood, and headed down the driveway.

The north pasture along the drive had been allowed to grow wild and was unrecognizable to me - you would never have known that horses had grazed there.

Here's proof - Amy, Flame, and Nick are standing right about where that photo was taken. Mother Nature is taking back what used to be hers.

Still standing is one last fence post on the north pasture

and for some reason, our old mailbox is still in place, even though there is no longer a home on the property.

I headed back into town but I didn't go home - I had one more place to go.

I wanted to leave a little touch of home on my parents' graves so I placed the stem of Tall Bellflower on their headstone.

Saying goodbye to the old oak was hard, even harder than saying goodbye to the house. The circle of life is nearly complete for it. I hope it is left where it fell and allowed to quietly return to the earth in the place where it lived and grew and sheltered and gave great peace and happiness.

Goodbye, oak. And thank you.