For the last ten years, Annie and I have watched a silver maple tree slowly grow onto our back building. Working with an arborist, we have tried to get it to change course but to no avail. Trees are like people in that way. “Straighten up!” you say to a child when that child is heading off course. They will lean that much harder, it seems.
A big tree crew will be here in the morning. Commonwealth Edison has to be involved, too, as a big cable is right next to the tree and the power needs to be shut off to the condo next door. We don't want any electrocuted workers or an urban forest fire.
Today will be our last attempt at trying to get the maple to straighten up a bit.
Over the course of time, it divided into a lazy V with the larger half against the building and the other half leaning toward the condo next door. That part of the tree has been lovely for the folks who live in that condo. They have beautiful foliage during the summer that makes it feel like they are living in a forest. In fact, the condo folks have a better view of our yard than we do with all the trees that are growing back there. It is one of those funny things that comes with home ownership. The neighbors benefit from the work and expense.
I had a childhood friend who came once to visit during the pandemic. He took a photo of the tree leaning on the building. He laughed at me and said, “this isn’t going to turn out good.” Today will be the chance to see if he was right. Sadly, he isn’t my friend these days as he started leaning in a particular direction with his religious and political views. I think his second divorce started him leaning. I couldn’t do much to help stop that lean, either. I tried to make him aware that he was starting to lean. That made him lean that much more, it seemed. He leaned his way right out of my life. Trees and people lean too far sometimes. They can lean until they lean too far and that’s it. Something has to give.
In the case of the maple, we are trying to keep the one half alive and healthy. Sometimes you have to cut back on something you love in order to save what you can of it. We will hopefully get some good firewood out of the deal. That of course will stare at me as another chore that will require hours of work and the rental of a log splitter. There’s always a mess to clean up when something leans too far.
But, hopefully, this will save the tree. The half that shades the condo will be able to grow unabated. The decking that was around the tree will be rebuilt to accommodate new growth, new girth. We will have also saved the building, which ultimately is the most important thing to save.
The building needs to be saved as it is something that provides us with some stability. It is an Airbnb, a gathering place for friends and music and represents continuity to our family welfare and happiness.
That the tree was leaning on the building was a battle of sorts that now needs to be corrected. By leaning too far, the tree has threatened that sense of continuity. Yet, we don’t want to get rid of the tree, we just want it to stop leaning too far in a direction. Leaning too far is not good for the tree, the building and ultimately not good for our own happiness and security.
In life, we are faced with a lot of things that lean too far. It gets uncomfortable at first. We hope that it can correct itself. But when Continuity gets threatened, then we have to do something to correct that leaning.
The worst case is that the tree has leaned too far. If it has, and there is no hope, it will all have to come down. And in that case, it will be necessary, but sad. The building ultimately is the most important thing to have. The tree can possibly be replaced, or the Austrian pine will take over its spot. It doesn’t lean in any direction, but curves and swerves its limbs upwards and outwards in a huge, octopus-like embrace of the world around it.
Perhaps the maple should have observed and learned a thing or two from its wiser and older neighbor. It leaned too far and was fairly obstinate in its leaning. Now, hard decisions are made and hopefully, we will have a maple tree, a bit straighter and with the opportunity to grow in a direction that brings delight and joy to all. It’s a better world when we can either grow up as straight as we can or at least, act like an Austrian pine, swerve, twist and open its arms to the delight of all.
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