The Sad Thing is That I’ve Lost my Ability to Write Under the Shade of Trees…It’s Like Losing an Old Friend.
***
My friend, Matt, lost the 150-year-old oak tree that was the dominant presence and the prized possession of his backyard, in the recent tropical storm to hit Los Angeles on Sunday, August 20, 2023.
Below is our recent text exchange initiated when I texted him to see if we could meet for coffee as he is not always in town as he travels a lot for his business. All the photos of this post were part of our text exchange.
***
Matt, are you in town this week? I am able to meet you probably any day this week for coffee, we would just have to work out the time convenient to you. Let me know. There are a few things I want to tell you and also get your input on. Thanks.
***
Hi Chris, I’ve been thinking about you quite a bit after both my conversation with Vonnie and after a big accident occurred last Sunday. Take a look: (He sent a video from his security camera that captured the moments that two huge branches came crashing down into the backyard.)
Thankfully no one was home and therefore no one was injured by this. The damages are extensive, but insurance will likely cover all of it. The sad thing is that I’ve lost my ability to write under the shade of trees…it’s like losing an old friend. I mourn the loss of that beautiful majestic oak tree. And the shade it brought…and the joy it brought. Perhaps a future blog post for you.
I want to get together – but we’ve been living in hotels and moving around, waiting to get estimates on how long it will take to repair and how long till we can return. Consequently, we probably can’t meet this week.
***
Matt, when I saw the video, I was stunned. It looks like one big trunk hit your office, and the other one hit his wife’s office. Is that true? Also did some of the tree actually hit your house also? I can’t tell from the video.
Would you like to come over for dinner a few nights this week? Let me know. I’m so glad no one was home. I know exactly the way that you feel. I think I told you more than once that I would’ve bought the house just for the tree.
Do you have a way of lifting from the video four still shots? One of the tree before it fell, shots of both trunks falling, and then the aftermath. I would like to do a posting on this focusing on your dismay about losing writing under the shade of the tree like losing a friend. I so totally understand and feel this also. It would be a good one for me to do of you, can you send me the photos. Please let me know.
***
Thanks for your note. Unfortunately, a big branch hit my house and went through the roof – a lot of damage. Fortunately, my little office was spared by about a foot. We are pretty stressed just living out of a bag in a hotel while going back and forth to the house for workers/inspectors – we will pass on dinner for now, but I do look forward to getting together. I’ll send you some pictures with captions shortly. I can also pull stills from the video.
(Here are just a few of the photos that Matt sent me of his backyard taken over a number of years, as he writes further below: I wanted to send you a lot of pictures to help you frame my sorrow – which, sadly, these photos do excellently.)
***
Was their young son’s office spared? (The children’s playhouse.)
***
Yes, because we had moved it behind the tree against the wall.
***
Did the branch that hit your roof also, go into the house itself? If yes, which rooms?
***
Damaged our bedroom, laundry room, kitchen.
***
Are you going to be able to keep the trunks that did not fall over?
***
No. It was rotten in the core. We would have had no way of knowing. The tree was green and growing and otherwise appeared healthy. Seems like a spiritual metaphor sometimes.
Sadly, this is it now. A bare and naked backyard. Roasting in the oven. From shade to inferno.
***
Oh, oh, oh, oh…
***
I wanted to send you a lot of pictures to help you frame my sorrow – but here are the screen grabs you requested.
***
Matt, I actually have tears in my eyes. I have a cup of coffee and I’m just gonna go sit quietly for a while and think over the immense magnitude of your loss. It is almost like my mind does not know where to begin, and if I was in your backyard, I would just stand and grieve and just sort of be paralyzed with my thoughts and emotions. I will also write of my own emotion that I also deeply feel.
***
I think you understand better than anyone what a tremendous loss this is and how hard this has hit me. The insurance will repair the home…that can all be restored. But a 150-year-old tree cannot be restored in your lifetime or mine. It is a piece of history that is now but a stump.
***
Yes
***
Parting Note: I wrote this post about the sorrowful, irreversible, and irreplaceable loss of a 150-year-old tree, yes. I wrote this post to share this tragedy and sorrow with my readers, yes. But…I mostly wrote this post just for my friend, Matt.
***
To View all Postings in Moments of Seeing & Occasional Pieces Please Use Link Below
Moments of Seeing & Occasional Pieces – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
Thank you, Chris. Thank you for your genuine concern and empathy. For following up with me and for appreciating better than anyone else how that tree was the centerpiece of my property (for all of us). I have not been able to write about this yet, but am glad you have.