We told dad several times before, “Dad, that tree is going to cause problems.” It was located about 20 feet from the house, with huge limbs that stretched out over the house in several directions. One limb especially caused us some concern. It was BIG and loomed over the porch and the house and we mentioned that it needed to come down.
Dad and I had sat on the front porch, rocking in the rocking chairs, and spoke of how beautiful the tree was. Dad had mentioned the squirrels that had their home there, as well as the birds. Little did we know, that one day it would come down.
Mom and dad passed away two years ago, and the house was up for sale, and then one day a storm hit. We had checked on the house and the tree. My thoughts had gone back to the time when I warned dad about the tree. We had hoped to sell the house before all this happened. We had no knowledge it would fall when it did. It had stood for many, many years. Even after the storm, nothing had happened… for two days. It was a calm clear evening, and on Feb. 15 about 8pm, I received a call from some neighbors where mom and dad had lived. “A huge limb has fallen, and hit the house!” We hung up the phone. After a short while, we got another call, “Mr. Exum, sorry to call at this hour, but we heard a loud crash, and went outside and saw that a limb has broken off and hit your dad’s house! You need to come and look, because the whole tree is leaning over the road!”
Next day, we went over and saw the damage. Half the house was covered by this one limb, and the porch had a limb stuck through the roof. The tree had been balanced for years by this limb, because it had others just as big going out toward the road. Now with the balancing limb gone, the other limbs were pulling the whole tree over the road. Long story short, since then we have had the limb removed, the yard has been cleaned up, and repairs to the house began, and soon the Exum house was good as new. The yard has been re-seeded where the tree was and before long began to grow. But the beautiful tree that provided shade for mom and dad, a home for squirrels, and birds is gone leaving yet another ‘hole’ in our hearts. It was so nice as we would sit on the three-season porch which faced the tree. We all admired and loved it, especially mom and dad.
We have learned several things from all this. It is easier and wiser by far, to heed the warnings of that ‘inner voice’ that says, “DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOW!” Another way of saying that is “DON’T PROCRASTINATE”. Putting off doing something that needs done can simply make it worse, and take longer to fix… and cost more to do it.
Something else we learned was how much cool shade it was providing. No shade now. Something else we learned, as dad always reminded us of, “things change,” so try and be prepared.
“Through the years,” you find out what is really important. The old tree was nice, but what was really important are the memories of mom and dad sitting on their rocking chairs just listening, watching the birds, waving at friends who passed by. The tree is just a reminder of precious memories.
Grow in grace friends
