The Tree

The tree by her bedroom window that the songbird would come and visit is gone. Cut down to make room for someone else’s new dwellings. I asked her if she was sad that it was gone. She said it was okay because the cardinal had moved to another tree.

The view from her window looks different. The tree that grew taller just as she did year after year is no longer there. Surprisingly she took it in stride. Sometimes when things change it’s hard to deal with. Not this time. She reasoned that there were other trees for the bird to live in.

It’s ironic that the tree she liked so much was cut down now just as she is transitioning into new programs. September has always meant back to school and back to all that was familiar. Not this September however. Just as her tree is missing so too are her days of school. The tree and school; two things that have been a part of her life since she was very small. She’s accepting the absence of both remarkably well.

I was expecting this September to be hard for her. Everyone else would be going back to school except her because she aged out. Perhaps however she is realizing that just as the Cardinal doesn’t need the same tree to come to everyday she doesn’t need the same school building to come to. The Cardinal can move to another tree and still sing his songs. She can move to another program and still be okay.

Trees can be cut down and buildings can be closed but memories of them will stay. It’s those memories that make their absences less harsh. And memories she does have. So many memories of what used to be.