There Ya Go
After both of my parents were gone, my sister and I made the decision to sell their house at 444 Center St.
Many of you know, that’s not an easy thing to do — physically and emotionally. Moving sucks, but when you have to go through all of your parents’ things, deciding to either keep of throw, well, that really takes a toll.
We got the house sold to some nice people, and we knew they would take good care of it, which they have for about 10 years now. I have never been back inside the house, and doubt I ever will, but I’m sure they made a lot of changes.
And they made a change to the outside, too — one, I didn’t like. Some time after they moved in, the decision was made to take down a massive evergreen in the front yard. It’s a tree that was always there during my early life, and when I saw the yard without the great tree, I was bummed. It would be my classic hyperbole to say I was devastated by the loss, but I still am not used to not seeing it.
It’s just a tree, you say? I don’t buy that. “Just a tree” is an insult. There is no thing as “just a tree.”
Last week, many people in Tracy went through the same thing I did years ago when the tree that stood in front of my folks’ house for decades vanished. The Phase E infrastructure project is a good thing for Tracy — a needed thing, a long overdue thing. We need new streets on the east side of town, and we need new infrastructure, too. But with progress comes change, and the price of this progress is trees.
I drove over to the 1st St. East/Elm St. intersection last Tuesday to take some photos of trees coming down to go along with Tara’s city council meeting story. I couldn’t recognize the area. Tree after tree on the boulevards were relegated to ugly stumps. Ever see a photo of a residential area after a tornado (of course you have, you’re from Tracy)? That’s what it looked like.
Of course, this devastation was planned to make way for some major construction coming our way. However, that still doesn’t diminish the shock you get when you see streets that no longer are shaded. It’s an arborist’s nightmare.
I know I’m not the only one who will have a hard time getting used to the result of this tree termination, but let’s be honest: It’s really no one’s fault.
In this day and age of extreme fingerpointing where everyone jumps the gun to blame a person or a group of people, I suppose we could blame Father Time, because it’s time that wore away the now-fragile infrastructure that lies beneath our roads. And it’s time that has made those roads crack and crumble.
What did stand the test of time are most of those trees, but they had to go, simple as that. And if man didn’t get ‘em, Emerald Ash Borer, or some other nasty tree disease probably would’ve eventually.
We will miss all those majestic trees that have been taken from us, but it’s our new reality, and all we can do now is adjust to and accept our new landscape. All things considered, we’ll get a pretty nice silver lining in return.
