More Split than a Tree here

And then, of course, there is that tree.

A major point of contention to past owners, the tree was planted on the other side of the sidewalk, right on village property. It had grown to be a huge maple, spreading wide across the street and front yard. The sidewalk was buckled over the roots, and the folks down the road had sewer problems. Some said it was because of the tree. Previous owners denied it. But what is undeniable is that the tree was not on our property. Facts are facts, not emotion.

Paul and Mike discussed it several months back. Mike told him that it was of no concern to us; that the tree was not ours, not on our property. He said that because, unlike a lot of folks, he doesn't leave that 2 foot wide strip unmowed and neglected. When he is out on the riding lawnmower, he sees no big deal about riding for a minute more to mow that strip, too. No it isn't our problem - but if you want the yard to look even, you should mow everything at the same time. All Mike asked was when they cut it down, that we get it for firewood.





Well, yesterday Paul came over and cut it down. I was at work for the morning, but heard the saws. By the time I came home at noon, the tree was already down. Three neighbor kids, sweet girls and funny - came over to help Paul and his wife Enid load the branches into the town pickup, our pickup, and onto a borrowed trailer. Then their Mom came down too. (This family and ours have the strangest connection - in a town of 177 people, both her hubby and mine have the same first and last names. And her name is - Beth. So we are called "the 'other' Mike Jones' ". )


Two pickup truck hauls and one front-end loader haul later, and the tree was gone - except for the logs that we are moving to the back firewood pile, and the big stump.



The tree had a HUGE center hole rotted out, full of bugs and chewed wood pulp, brown and damp and not lovely at all. It couldn't have even been processed for some lovely maple boards, because the rot was so pervasive. Eventually the tree would have come down, perhaps violently - and who knows what damage it would have caused.
But after it sets up awhile, the wood will make a lovely fire next winter.





Enid suggested that the stump could hold a planter; sure enough, with the deep hole in the center, it could nestle one in there comfortably.

Of course the previous owner is angry; no matter how often she tells herself that she sold the property, she is unable to let go of the fact that she raised her children here and has an emotional connection to it. But this is a VERY small town, and the neighbors don't forget things, other things that happened, nor how her ex sneered at them and told them that now that they had sold their house, all of their taxes were going up, and laughed in their faces. (I was there when he said it.) That and other things I have experienced that have been in diametric opposition to what she and the ex told me, plus the condition of not just the house but the pasture, yard, and the barns, lead me to believe that emotion rather than reason played a big part in why the town has become so friendly and open to us... and why the folks have become more verbal about insults and slights and behavior that they found, if not insulting, at least unacceptable in the past.

I try very hard to be polite and diffuse the situations and comments when they come up. Everyone has their own version of reality. And what happened here in the past is - past. All I can do is make a fresh start with folks whom I am learning to like, and establish that we may be independent - but are not so very different. Some people find it hard to adjust to new situations, they deny them, rail against them, and steep themselves in the bitter tea of regret and resentment.

We are people who look forward; not emotionally, but with reason based on facts and practicalities. Perhaps that is the difference. We could have railed against the unfairness of life that made Mike a cripple, that took so much from us. We could have stayed where we were and moped about, been martyrs and pathetic whiners with no hope, no goals, no plans, and no joy. We could have become that sad old couple down the road who never did anything, any more, except sat and watched TV, shopped endlessly at Wal-Mart, and whined about how evil the world had become; our whole house and life smelling of sorrow and self-pity. Or - we could change our latitude and attitude, and start a new and buoyant, forward looking chapter in our lives. The choice was ours. We made it, irrespective of what others thought or believed about us. We choose to be happy. Like the cutting of the tree, when the rot was pervasive, we chose to take another step into another destiny.