Trees and Threes

Dan's favorite outdoor times included the Red Baron Memorial Fishing Trip campouts.

My parents went out for dinner at the end of April to attend an “Arbrew Day” event.  Philadelphia residents who attended the event would receive a free fruit-bearing, flowering, or evergreen tree from Tree Philly.  Mom and Dad thought that it would be nice to plant a small tree in memory of Dan.  When they got to the restaurant, they discovered that all of the trees had been given away.  However, once the owner heard the reason that my parents wanted the tree, he decided to give them the tree that he had been saving for himself.  It took a little while for the restaurant staff to find the tree, because someone had put it in a “safe” place in the basement.  Instead of a small fruit tree, this was a beech tree, and is expected to grow between 50 and 70 feet tall! My parents realized that this would be a bit too large for their front lawn but appreciated the kindness shown by the owner.  So they thanked him for the tree, brought it home, and offered the tree to us.  

The Tree

Ben and I picked out a spot in our back yard near the creek so that it would get a lot of water.  (Apparently new trees are thirsty, and require 20 gallons of water a week, even though they look like twigs!) David and I planted the tree on Monday. I tried to explain that the tree was Dan’s tree but this seemed to confuse David.  “No Mom, that’s Mom Mom and Grandpa’s tree. Uncle Dan can’t have things anymore.”

I told them that in a way that he’s right- the tree is for all of us to look at and remember Dan. When we put the bid in on this house last March, I had visions of throwing family parties in the back yard. I am very sorry that we did not get to spend more time with Dan in this yard. We never got to play ladder ball or boccie with Dan here, or sit around our fire pit and roast marshmallows.  But we will continue to do those things with the rest of our family, and have a little reminder of how he is watching us.

After we were finished, Ben came out to check our handiwork and said, “It’s not a bad little tree.  It just needs a little love.” And love it we will.  

Missing you on your Three Month Anniversary, Buddy.

-Laura