Grandmother Tree

I cut down an old maple tree this week. This old grandmother tree has many children scattered around the farm, I’ve written about at least one of them. There is a children’s song by a group we love in our house called Grandmother Tree by the Okee Dokee Brothers. The song tells a story about how an old maple tree gives life to the forest, and then one day the heavy snow and wind blow her over. As a tree on the ground she is then home to all kinds of life and she keeps on giving even though she has died. The base of our tree trunk measured about six feet in diameter and I felt may things as the tree crashed onto the snow-covered ground. Most of her branches had died in the past few years and the practical side of me rationalized the felling to keep the building at her feet safe from the barrage of falling dead branches.

In hindsight her falling was symbolic for the week. Racey went in for surgery this week for her cervical cancer. I cut down our grandmother tree the afternoon before Racey went into surgery, seems crazy to think about it now, but that is what I really wanted to do. Cervical cancer typically progresses to the uterus, so on Wednesday she had what is called a partial hysterectomy, which removes the cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. It occurs to me now that perhaps the deep welling of heat and tears I felt looking at the fallen grandmother tree were also for the loss of Racey’s uterus and maybe a dash of fear for the coming procedure.

It was an emotional week for both of us.

We are so grateful for the love and support from friends and family. We are grateful for the food from our farm and other farms around us. And thank you to the folks at UVM Porter Medical Center for helping us through Racey’s surgery. All is well and she is resting comfortably at home.