"Hello everyone.... I don't know if this really qualifies as a "Forum Topic", and I know many would say "it was only a tree", but sharing does help to soothe the pain of ones loss, and is enormously therapeutic....
I lost you, my old friend, a few days ago. For thirty-five years we together unfailingly marked the glorious changing of the seasons, and you kindly shaded the backside of my building during the heat of many a summer. You were the picture of health towering seventy feet high, about the same age as me (85) from what I have been told. Numberless generations of squirrels and birds had called you home. So many happy memories.... the squirrels scurrying and leaping about.... the raccoons and possums that once found rest among your inviting branches.... all the birds nests that erupted with the delightful chorus of baby birds each year.... and all the fascinatingly intricate freshly spun spider webs, glistening with morning dew, among your limbs in the light of the rising sun! I loved you so very, very much.... Oh! My dear beloved old Maple Tree, how I wish I could have saved you!
You my old friend.... who brought such joy into my life, and the lives of so many others for so many years.... are gone."
A couple of days after I posted that little eulogy showing a picture of the tree that had been cut down, it was suggested that some part of my old friend should be preserved and that perhaps a staff, a bowl or a pendant could be made. Since my son is an artist and former wood worker, he volunteered and began the search for just the right piece of wood. He found one that he liked but I rejected it because it didn't "feel" right. He continued to search and as he did he noticed a hollow near the center of the tree trunk that was exposed when it was cut down. It must have formed many, many years ago, probably seventy or eighty, while I was still only a child.
Clearly two tree trunks close together had merged, becoming one. Being the curious sort, he cleared it of saw dust and made the most remarkable discovery! Within the tree all these many years has been hidden a secret! He said it was wedged in very tightly, and I watched from the second floor walkway as he used a hammer and a long screwdriver to carefully and patiently chisel it loose. When he brought it in I could hardly believe my eyes.... it was like a dream.
It's about two inches across at the widest point and has all the subtle beauty of a great Emerald, my fovorite gem! I would not even hazard a guess as to what it's really made of, nor have I any intention of finding out, but I will say that when I held it to my chest I immediately burst into tears with such joy as I have never felt before.... it rests upon my Altar for now, but soon, in a very special ritual, I will consecrate it my self and have it made (no cutting or faceting) into a most glorious and powerful Amulet.
I still can't get over it, and my mind keeps racing with all the possibilities of how something like that happens.... Did perhaps a child place it there? Maybe the tree slowly enveloped it as it grew out of the ground? Maybe two lovers placed it there? An occult ritual? What a wonderful mystery! Whatever the answer, I just love it....
Love and Light to you all.... Guenn
