Elder's Tree

In life as we grow, sadly, our loved ones pass away and all we have to remember them by is our memories and pictures.

When I was five years old, I experienced my first loss when my dog Bear died from rabies. I was completely heartbroken because my grandparents got him as a puppy when I was just a babe. Bear and I grew up together, we were inseparable. When he passed, my grandfather told me to go back into the house, so that could prepare for Bear's immortal life. He planted a pear tree in front of the house, and told me that if we bury Bear in front of this tree, then he would live on within the tree. This way, he would live as long as the tree. Which outlives human lifetimes.

At five, I thought it was the greatest idea I have ever heard. Every day, Grandfather and I would go out and water the tree, cut the surrounding weeds, and care for it. As the years passed, the tree and I both grew, and I still remember the first pear Grandfather picked from the tree. I was ten years old, I was full of excitement. Grandfather picked me up so that I could pick fruit from the tree branches. As he put me down, he pulled out his old pocket knife and cut the pear in half, he told me, “That with hard work and dedication, you will always have great fruit of your labor as a reward.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, but that pear tasted so good. It was so sweet and juicy, by far the best pear I have ever eaten, still to this day.

A year later, we learned that Grandmother had cancer. This news was so heartbreaking to us all, but Grandfather took it the hardest. When he wasn’t at the hospital with her, he was sitting under the pear tree. He made this old chair out of an old oak tree, that was struck by lighting. He said in that chair and under the pear tree he can calm his thoughts and find the strength that he needs for my grandmother and all of us. My Grandmother fought so hard for a year before she passed, and in all of my years, that was the only day I had ever seen Grandfather cry.

When we got back to the house from the hospital, Grandfather went right to his chair under the pear tree. I saw him pull out his pocket knife and craved right in the middle, “Fly high with my everlasting love, my beautiful wife Karen.” He told me he did that so his love for her could outlive him. The rest of the year, Grandfather spent most of his days by that tree. Every time I went to see him, we would both sit under that tree, and he would tell me stories of his past. Some of his favorites to tell were about his dog Ringeye, His best friend Bill, and what it was like to grow up on river road. I would always hang onto every word. The stories he would tell would always leave me wanting more.

As the years went by, the tree grew taller, and we all grew older. I am now twenty-eight with two little ones, and Grandfather loves to spend time with them under the old pear tree. My kids and I would sit down together and soak up every word of his stories and even though I heard them all a thousand times I still loved to hear them. What I loved the most was our time together, and the pears that we would split. My kids and I look forward to our weekends under that old tree with Grandfather.

Today I got a phone call from my mother, she said that Grandfather isn’t feeling well and that we needed to come to the house. The family and I rushed over and as we pulled up, we saw grandfather struggling to get to his chair, under the pear tree. Seeing this threw my mother into a raging fit.“I’m going to die in my chair,” he screamed at her.

All I could do was laugh as I walked up and helped him to his chair. It broke my heart because my superhero now looked so weak and lost, as he had dementia. He pulled out his old knife and asked me to pick a pear for him as he sat down. While I handed it to him, he told me how proud I made him and how our time under this old tree was among the greatest times of his life. Grandfather cut that pear in half and handed me the other half.

As I took the pear offered to me, I looked up at the pear tree that had been in my life journey for so long. Looking back at my grandfather, my heart dropped to my stomach. Smiling with such a joyful smile, clutching one half of the pear and pocket knife, Grandfather passed away. Under the pear tree, just as he said he would. Mother and my wife called for the EMTs, but it was too late.

We dumped his ashes at the roots of this old pear tree and I craved in it “fly high with our endless love, the greatest Grandfather.” I now hold his old knife and have moved to his house so that my children and I can water this old tree, just as Grandfather and I did.