The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is one of my favorite books by Shel Silverstein. It's all about a tree who does nothing but give, give, give to a little boy. And the boy never appreciates the tree for giving him shade, or a branch to swing upon, or fruit to eat. The boy grows up to be a man and still doesn't recognize all the tree gives to him.

It's a rather sad, but lesson-filled, story.

Today we had to cut down our Giving Tree.


We have had a whole lot of rain, and it has caused the ground to be super duper soggy. We woke up this morning to find our beloved climbing tree leaning precariously towards the house.

Evan has been climbing this tree for about three years. He and the little neighbor girl from down the street managed to climb way into the tallest branches last summer and take pictures of brand new baby birds in their nest. They also love foraging for pine cones which they throw down like discovered treasure.

Eric bought it as his first Christmas tree 11 years ago. Once Christmas was over, he planted the tree outside in the side yard. And now we have to cut it down.

It makes me sad.


Midway through the tree branch cutting process. Eric had to go buy a chainsaw just to do this. As if we really wanted to spend money on a chainsaw at Christmas time. Better that than a deductible, however, if the tree crashed into the house.


The end result for now. We ran out of dry weather, light, and energy. We'll have to see what the next few days of storms does to the ground. At least if the tree falls, it should fall clear of the house.

Not the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.