Free to imagine

"One more story derives from the demise of my tree. The tree blew down in July, and of course nobody knows when my granddaughter Allison and her husband Will will move into this old house, extending one family's residence since 1865. They will take over here when I die, but now I was able, with the help of a windstorm, to give them a wedding present that should last awhile. When I was a boy, elms lined Route 4, but by the time Jane and I arrived, Dutch elm disease had killed them all. A few years ago, Philippa told me of newly bred elms that were immune. She and I conspired, and acting as my agent, she bought a new American elm, and after the great stump was removed a slim four-foot elm sapling took the maple's place. Philippa and Jerry, my son-in-law, planted it on a Sunday early in September while Allison and Will and I looked on. It was Tree Day, which I proclaim a family holiday. For now the elm will require watering, three doses of three gallons a week, applied by my helpers. The sapling came with a bronze plaque inscribed to the future tenants, to be affixed to the elm's eventual trunk. I am free to imagine another grandchild swinging from another branch of another tree."

— A Carnival Of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety by Donald Hall
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