A tree I never knew I needed

A tree that sat outside of my window holds many stories throughout my childhood. I have been living in this house for about 20 years now which is 90% of my life. This tree has been alive and standing ever since I have been living in my room. In a strange way, this tree has given me security and awareness. From the branches waving when it was windy and depending on how hard they blew. If there is a storm near. To my dog jumping in the bathtub when she was scared. When the leaves fell, I knew not only was the time of the year was changing, but time of school was changing to certain yearly personal daily habits as well.

As a kid, I read up on a lot of books on tornadoes and other natural disasters. I was terrified of a tornado ever hitting our area. Anytime there was even a slight of wind or heavy rain, I got concerned. I went into my basement for safety. I always look at the tree outside of my room to determine conditions. My room for the most part, seemed like it was soundproof. I could not hear storms outside if my window were closed or much that was going on. I looked at the tree from my room. If it was moving a lot in the wind, I knew there was a possibility of a bad storm coming or happening. Sometimes, I was home alone which made it even worse at times. I was scared, alone, and did not know where to turn. The only security I had at these moments was the comfort of my dog. I would hold my dog in my arms in the moments I was scared.

My dog helped me a lot getting through times like this. A pure breed golden retriever. We got her when she was a puppy and she grew up with me. When my dog would come in my room, she will first beg for food if she saw I was eating. That would be her initial reason for coming into my room. She would then head over to my window and look out resting her head on the pan. I would watch her sometimes as she gazes into the outdoors. She would look at the tree too. She would look out my window for hours until she got tired of standing. Then, she will either lay down and go drink some water. However, when there was a frightening storm, she would go into our bathroom and jump into the bathtub whenever she felt scared. This was a very smart move we had no idea how she picked it up. But I followed my dog. Whenever she felt unsafe and moved around, I did the same. I trusted my dog a lot.

This tree was not just useful for me. This tree was also a staircase for animals to get across from tree to tree. Squirrels mostly would use the tree to run across the roof of the house, to the next tree. Nothing wrong with a bridge to cross. We were okay with it. However, the squirrels around our house started getting a little aggressive. There is a funny story of squirrels trying to break into houses due to caffeine. We once had an invasion around trying to break out window screens to get inside of our house. There was a cup of coffee sitting on our front porch on a nice sunny morning. Only left out there for a second and a squirrel started drinking from it. Next thing we see is the squirrel spread out wide on our front window screen with all legs facing a different direction. We knew indeed this was an affect of the caffeine. We eventually got the squirrel to go away. From this day moving forward, leaving, and coming from the house, squirrels were not as scared as they used to be around our house. In fact, they became exceptionally bold. There were not afraid of us anymore. Which could lead to bad situations in the future. Our kitchen screen was torn from a squirrel trying get in. We had to permanently close that window until we were able to afford new screens. That was a dramatic summer and on top of that, I believe this was a rare year of cicadas here in Chicago.

In continuation, years went by and things seemed normal, tree is still standing and telling me stories in its own way. One day, I was laying down and heard as it sounded like running on the roof. A lot of running. I did not engage immediately, as I was unsure of what it really was. I went out to work the next day and forgot about what I heard. I then come home, open my bedroom closet, only to find a squirrel at the bottom of my closet crossing my feet. I almost panicked but kept my cool. I closed my door to keep the squirrel in containment while I called professionals to get it out. I can hear the squirrel running around in my room knocking things over and causing havoc in my room. Our village police officer then arrived but with no cage or protection. We were wondering what method he was going to use to do this. He said, “I don’t know why they called me here, there’s nothing I can do”. We were on our own at this point. We then caged off my room to barricade the squirrel. My dad went in the back to set up traps and cages to safely catch the squirrel and release it somewhere further where he will not come back. In the meantime, I am standing in my roof with a rake just in case the squirrel pops out anywhere. We opened my window for the squirrel to jump and fortunately onto the tree.

My dad then heard a loud scream from my room. It was me because the squirrel has jumped out directly towards me and I am swinging for my life, so he does not get any closer to me. My dad immediately ran inside to see what was going on. The squirrel went the opposite direction. Once we were prepared to physically catch the squirrel and had cages, bate, and protection ready, the squirrel hopped over the small fence barricade we put against the door. For example, a dog door or baby protection door. Now, the squirrel is loose in our living room and dining room and we destroying our house trying to catch this squirrel. There was a mini war zone happening. Us versus this small squirrel. We then were able to corner the squirrel and it got confused. One of us moved and he ran to the front door. We kept the screen and front door open for the squirrel to run out safely. The squirrel then ran out the front door and back outside safely. We thought we were done.

However, the squirrel would only come back, and we knew that. The squirrel originally got into the house from the tree outside of my bedroom window. He climbed the tree and found a whole into the attic. We then found out there were a bunch of squirrels living in our attic. We soon realized we had a problem.

Months after the problem was resolved, we realized there had to be a way to stop this. We then thought to some decisions. We patched the holes into the attic to ensure animals could not get into it. But, when it rained, the seals were weakened. Leaving the squirrels to only chew through and find their way back into our attic. We then made a tough decision. We decided to cut the tree. This tree, as I mentioned before had an impact on my childhood that I was not truly aware of. Nothing lasts forever. The same summer we decided to cut the tree, my dog developed liver cancer. She was unable to walk for a while and was getting sicker. We decided to eventually put her down as I was going off to college and I would not be able to see her as much as I used to. One day packing my bags and looking out my window, I saw them sawing the tree down. Branch by branch. I sat and watched as the tree began to fall. My room became a lot brighter and clearer. Like a mist of fresh air just entered. I knew I was ready for the next chapter of my life, but it was hard watching. Having to grow up and lose the attachment to things you do not need anymore or if someone has left your life is a part of growth. All I have are the memories today. But even what is gone is never forgotten.

Fast forward 4 years later. I am done with college and I am back home. I look out my window once again. There is a new tree planted. Strong and branched full of life. As if nothing changed. I asked my dad “why did you grow it again?”. He told me something was missing. Something did not seem normal. He replanted the tree and things seemed “just right” again. He said he does not know exactly what it was, but replanting the tree did the seem to help but he is sure it had nothing to do with the tree. Little did he know.