The Tree

Douglas fir

When I moved to Vancouver, Washington in 1994 after graduating college (University of Washington, Go Dawgs!), I bought a house that had a tree in the back yard. But this wasn't just any tree. I have no idea how old it was but I bet at least 100 years. It was the tallest tree in the neighborhood. I would estimate it was about 100 feet tall (one foot per year?). I think it was a Douglas fir. (My uncertainty is memory. At the time I knew what it was. As a forestry major, I should.) It sat in one corner of our yard majestically piercing the blue sky.

Once we had a huge wind storm with 100 mph winds. And the tree stayed up. Other, smaller trees in the area came down. But our tree survived. I remember whenever the wind blew, our neighbor would look out their back window watching the tree. Because if it came down, it would likely hit their house. But it never, ever came down.

Then we sold the house in 1999 and moved to central Washington. The sad thing is, the people who bought the house took that tree down because they were afraid it was going to fall. So after 100 years or so, it was finally taken down by fear. I felt bad about that.

Do you have any memories about trees? Let me know in the comments below.