(sorry for the terrible quality of this pic)
When I was a little girl I LOVED this book, it was on the top of my 'read-this-till-you-want-to-kill-me-for-making-you-read-it-a-million-times- book list. The coolest part (and scariest as a kid) is that we have a Spooky Old Tree. As a child my mom would tell me it was THE Spooky Old Tree and to this day, that's what I have always called it.
My brother and sister and I would say it EVERY time we drove past the tree.
2 years ago I moved just a house away from the Spooky Old Tree, and I read my kids the story of the Spooky Old Tree, and walked them down the road, late at night to see it in all it's Spooky Glory.
Today, I got up, made some coffee and went out to enjoy the morning air.
I walked to the end of the drive to say Hi to the neighbors, who were reading the paper on their front yard. and saw this:
It didn't seem real at first. Was there really a HUGE piece of the Spooky Old Tree on the ground?
Broken
Sad
Alone
I called my mom right away and told her what had happened and she got it exactly right
"It's like all the little pieces of our childhood are going away"
My tummy felt a little sick, and I knew she was right.
It was a hundred years of history on the ground, gone.
"They'll be taking the whole tree down soon, I'm sure" she continued.
I felt my whole body get scared.
I knew it would happen, like the trees in the park across the street, when they started to shed their branches from age and disease.
The landscape of my childhood was disappearing.
It was kind of like Peter Pan getting his kiss from Wendy, nothing would be the same.
Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, it is just a tree right?
But it's NOT just a tree.
It's THE Spooky Old Tree,
it's stories before bed, and getting ticked in, and "don't forget to put the bottle on the door" (that's a quote for another post I think).
It's just one more CHANGE to get used to, it's one more part of my history in this small town that has made me who I am.
I will miss you Spooky Old Tree.
1 comment:
I know that you know that you will always remember what that tree IS and what that tree MEANT when you were being tucked (spell check) in. And I know that you are making NEW stories that your kids will tell their kids and they will find SPOOKY TREES and MIDNIGHT KITCHENS and baby ghosts in the attic all their own. Love you baby bear.
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