Gone

Thanksgiving evening I was driving out to Bridgeton to have dinner. When I drove past my favorite tree in all the world and saw that someone had cut her down. I nearly cried, in fact I really might have shed a tear or three. Once she was a perfectly shaped tree that added to the beauty of this simple field, and now she was a heap of logs, stumps and limbs.



I have stopped a handful of times to take her picture in the past. Always telling myself that it would be really cool to come here everyday and take her picture. I wanted to capture her in all season, but I never did.

I recall the August evening that I took my kids out to the farm to watch the meteor shower and we stopped by the tree for a final look on our way back home to bed.

I don't go around loving trees...but there was just something about this tree that whispered to me. Some nights when I would see a beautiful sunset, or mornings when I would marvel at the colors of the sunrise, I would think about this tree. I would wish that I was there in that instant with my tripod and camera to see how the light would dance upon its limbs. I had all kinds of wonderful visions of how that tree would appear in a lighting storm. But in all the years that I have had to admired her beauty I have only managed to stop a handful of times to capture her image.

One winter day when it was bitter cold outside, I stopped to take her picture in the blanket of snow that covered everything. Then when I got home and pulled the images up on my computer I thew them all away because they just didn't do it for me. I always thought there would be another opportunity to try again. And now I would do anything for even those few photos.

I knew this was coming. She had died, and they had marked her in the spring...but she still stood tall. Funny how even nature teaches us life lessons. I almost feel as if it is some kind of sign... Even when I knew my time was running out, I took for granted that she would always be standing there, and now she is gone.