Who sheds tears for a tree? Me.

Something is wrong in my neighborhood.  My mom says it's not just my particular neighborhood, but all over.  Since we moved into this house in 2008, by my count, at least 15 trees have been cut down.  And I don't mean tiny trees, or dead trees.  I mean big, beautiful, OLD trees.  Shade-making trees.  Trees that, from what I can tell as an outsider in at least some of the cases, weren't doing any harm to anyone at all.

The first one was a neighbor diagonally across the street.  She had a beautiful tree in her front yard, and had it cut down right after we moved in.  That summer, I noticed she was putting newspapers on her front door.  I guess it got hot after she didn't have her wonderful tree to shade it. 

Another neighbor across our street cut one down to sell her house.  The new people who moved in were very sorry to hear that she had done that and wished she had left the tree. 

Another two people just in my cul-de-sac have cut down large trees, for reasons totally unknown to me.

Someone down the street cut down a large pine tree.  This person keeps a tidy lawn and my guess, although I do not know for certain and of course I could be completely wrong, is that they were tired of dealing with pine needles and pine cones.  But I don't know. 

A neighbor behind us cut down a tree to put in a bigger driveway.  It was the one of two trees behind our house that I used to look at out the window of Karina's nursery when she was a baby.  I would point out the trees, squirrels, and birds to her in those trees.  Now one is gone forever.

Then there was a yard full of trees around the corner, on a property belonging to an elderly man who passed away.  He had one huge tree in his front yard, and other small to medium sized trees throughout his yard.  The people who moved in cut down every single tree.  Then they proceeded to spraypaint random rocks and yard ornaments gold and silver and copper.  The yard went from shady and peaceful to gaudy and hideous.  (In my personal opinion.  Perhaps others appreciate metallic-spray-painted yard ornaments, but I do not.)

Several other trees down the street have been cut down as well; I do not know why. 

But the worst one I saw today.  It is gone, long gone, nothing left already.  I don't know when they did it but the stump looks fresh.  The tree was an oak, probably easily 150 years old.  It was massive, its branches spread across the street and covered their yard.  It provided shade for almost a quarter of their street.  On hot days, when I would take the girls or just Karina for a walk (before there was Elena), I would almost run to the shade of that tree to get out of the sun.  Its roots were immense, and had torn up their driveway.  And I mean torn. it. up.  I was always amazed that these people had never taken steps to prevent the driveway from being wrecked by the tree and I stupidly assumed it was because they actually liked the tree.  I should have known. 

Today I took the girls for a walk, and as soon as we turned the corner to go down that street, I knew what had happened.  I knew it before I even saw the stump.  Gone.  I started crying.  I cried all the way home and I cried for over an hour off and on.  Why did they do that?  Why did the kill that beautiful, healthy, driveway destroying tree?  Why not just spend the same money and adjust the driveway? 

I am heartbroken.  I loved that tree.  I love all trees, but I loved that one. 

I wish I had a picture of it.  I'm looking, but we have literally thousands of pictures I'll have to go through, hoping that just one of them might have that tree in the background.  I'm almost positive I never took a picture of it, just of the tree.  I might have, but I don't remember. 


I know some people don't appreciate or like trees.  They are afraid the tree will fall on their house or wreck their plumbing.  Trees mess up their pools.  Sometimes trees die and they do have to be cut down.  Sometimes trees cause lots of problems to your house and it's a choice between the tree and $50,000 in repairs.  I get that.  I really do.  But you can't tell me that in 4 years there have been 15 trees, just that I know of, in my neighborhood causing that kind of damage to people's homes.  I know that is not the case.  They are being cut down simply because people see them as a nuisance I guess. 

Think about this though.  In the summer, the shade that trees provide helps cut down the electric bill and saves you running your AC constantly.  In the winter, the deciduous trees lose their leaves and let that nice sunshine through, warming your house during the cold months.  Trees are home to birds and animals that eat things like mosquitoes.  Trees provide oxygen.  They take in Carbon Dioxide, which we breathe out and which will kill us if we breathe too much of it, and they emit oxygen, which we need to live.  Trees are, in many ways, our perfect companions. 

I emailed back and forth with my mom today, because she understands how I feel.  Here is part of what she said to me, "And it’s not just your neighborhood, honey.  It’s everywhere.  And nobody cries except the children and tender hearts like yours.  Wear the name “tree-hugger” proudly.

I love you, sweetie,

Mom"

So here I am, a tear-shedding tree-hugger hoping that one person might read this and perhaps give a second thought to chopping down an annoying tree.




I know some people do not feel as I do.  That's okay.  But just please be nice if you feel the need to disagree with me.  It's been a sad day, losing my favorite neighborhood tree.