Trees

The Husband and I have a particular fondness for trees.  We've planted multitudes of them over the course of our marriage.  Left each house with a prettier surrounding because of the trees we planted.

This particular yard has 21 trees.  18 of which The Husband and I planted with our own gloved hands. (The two cottonwoods were already on the lot when we bought it). They've generally done well.  In some cases they've tripled (or more) in height in the 13 years we've lived here.

One specific tree always has The Husband shaking his head.  It is kind of a weird shaped tree.  Not the perfect shape most people go for.  I loved its quirkiness.  Its personality called to me.  This last winter the tree-trimming guy was determined to get at it with his saw.  I adamantly refused.  I know that pruning is necessary but he wasn't going to touch my tree.  

The Husband generally waits till I'm nowhere near and sneaks his pruning saw out and takes out "just a few" of the problematic branches.  The trees are happy - they're growing.  The evergreens have branches that hang w-a-y out into the yard.  Makes the lawn mowing a bit of a challenge.  Even has blocked the spray from the lawn sprinklers.

Isn't our yard pretty in the sun / shade?  I love it here.

Yesterday though, he warned me.  It was a big branch.  A couple big branches.  They had to come down.  I fancy I can hear the trees crying a bit when the teeth of the saw bites into the bark.  It makes me really sad.  Admittedly, it does look a bit spiffied up. Still...

I'll go out this week and comfort my tree.  I'll tell it how much we love it and how important it is to keep it healthy.  And sometimes that means a bit of trimming.  The hard things in life are usually a time of growth.  Even for our trees.

And today, I'm grateful for our former YSA kids. Including those who go on missions and come home fabulous adults. Who don't take a handshake for a greeting but bore right in for a full-on hug.  It was heartwarming.  Oh, how we love those kids.