TREES

There was a tree across the road from our house. It was a lovely tree with big branches on it. Somebody had put a swing on one of them. I just loved that tree. It probably was the only tree in town.There were small trees planted by homes, but they were not big enough to swing on. I would swing and swing and while I was swinging I’d sing. One of the songs I sang was to the tree. I would sing one of the verses if I remembered them, but I doubt if you would enjoy them very much. I was only five or six years old, but I knew I loved trees.

Let’s look ahead about 35 years. My husband has died, I have thee children and need a job so I began sending letters to churches because that was my education. One called from the northwest and I accepted, but now I had to bring my children, dog and all my household things all the way from Wisconsin to the state of Washington and I had never driven very much. I thought that with God I can do it. I did it!

One day a lady from our church invited me to lunch. We talked about many things , but mostly I talked about moving so soon but we were very uncomfortable in the house I was renting. Adults and children were fighting in the streets and they would take anything left outside our home. She said they were selling a house and maybe they would rent it. She handed me some keys and told me to take the kids and look it over.

Trees! that’s all I saw when we drove in.It was so wonderful, There was a woods north of our house with tall northern fir about 150 years old and way over 100 feet tall! and the neighbor to the south of us had many of those trees in their property. The house we were supposed to look at had many of the trees on the property. The whole area was beautiful. But we were to look at the house. It was perfect for our little family. It had a fireplace, three bedrooms, only one bathroom, a nice sized living room, dining area and kitchen. All of us loved it, but even the two older kids thought it was way over what we could pay.

With sad faces we brought the keys back. The husband was now home and told us the price of the home and what kind of down payment we would have to pay. I knew I had the insurance money to pay the down payment but that was for the kids.The monthly payment fit. It was more than the rent we were paying now. It all sounded so great, but who was I to buy a house? I called my brother-in-law. He said he would come and see it. He put his stamp of approval on the whole deal! I bought the house!

All I could do was look at the trees. God is so good. I have lived here over 60 years now and still believe I am not worthy of such a gift! But today I am sad. A man and his wife bought the house in the eastern part of the woods. After the house was built they wanted to cut down nine of these big trees. I was sure the city would not give that approval, but they did. They are working right now. The men have the power , both in their hands and in the loud power tools they use. Soon, they will be done and I will be left to mourn that loss. I wonder why they didn’t buy a house that had no trees by it. To me it would have saved them a lot of money. Oh well, people do things for their own reasons. God gave us free will and sometimes we use that knowledge in ways we shouldn’t, don’t we? There is plenty of trees to dream over, and maybe i’ll sing a bit.