My New View
Yesterday was a sad day for me.
We had the last of the wise old willow tree removed from beside the pond, an unplanned change that nature brought us.
Change is the one constant we can expect in life. Everything changes, people, landscapes, cities, even climate.
I was sad to see the old willow tree go.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu
But it was time.
Last year, a large part of the tree fell in our yard during a windstorm. We had another part of the tree removed because the trunk was rotting out at the bottom and was no longer safe. About a month and a half ago a large trunk of the remaining tree fell in the pond, causing us to call the tree removal guys one last time for this magnificent tree.
Earlier This Summer
We often cannot control the changes that happen in our lives. But we do control our response to change. Even though I was sad to lose the trees that felt like old friends to me, I realize that something better may emerge from these changes.
As I sit with these landscape changes and recognize other changes happening around me, my goal is to greet change with grace, to befriend change, and know that all of life is change.
“The past can teach us, nurture us, but it cannot sustain us. The essence of life is change, and we must move ever forward or the soul will wither and die.”
― Susanna Kearsley, Mariana
Removing Tree Last Year
Our Backyard 4 years ago in the fall
Yesterday after the tree removal guys were gone I sat in a chair by the window and looked out at the pond with new eyes. The first thing I could think to say was, “Mom, you’d be so happy now. We’ve finally got a nice view from the windows.”
My parents were aging when we bought this house and they made one last trip to Minnesota to visit us when our youngest daughter graduated from high school. This was less than a year after we moved in. While I basked in the view of trees from our windows, my mom (who grew up and lived her whole life in Iowa) said, “You’d have a nice view if it weren’t for the trees.”
We laughed many times about our differing points of view about the view. Today I wish Mom could come and see the view. She would love it.
As I sat and gazed out the window I noticed different things. I could see the little lone duck we’ve been getting glimpses of, swimming in the pond. Duck watching is going to be a lot easier now.
Cardinals flew back and forth across the pond from a neighbor’s low bush to the low branches of our cottonwood tree (still standing, thank God, by the side of the pond). And another bird, I could not identify flew around and around, as if it was looking for the tree that used to be there.
The flowers in our neighbor’s yard across the pond were pops of color in a sea of green.
Part of me wants to go out and plant some trees in the backyard right away. But I’m waiting and watching, noticing and contemplating, wondering what wants to happen now on this land.
I will wait until the time feels right to make still another change.
May you walk in beauty.
Photos of the yard through the years…
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