Yesterday, I was having lunch with my kids in the kitchen when my youngest daughter pointed out the window and said “Mommy, Look!”  There was a man in peering over the fence, pulling away branches and vines that he had just cut down from our backyard neighbour’s yard along our fence line.  Shortly thereafter the neighbour rang the bell to ask if it would be allright for the worker to work from our yard.

As the rest of the day passed, we saw the gorgeous green tree line removed from our backyard section by section. I thought they were trimming, not removing. I am devastated.  My husband is devastated. My kids are devastated.

It’s possible the trees needed to be trimmed given that they were growing all over the bell & power lines of which we now have a clear and unobstructed  view. The trees were on their property line and so it’s not as though we had any right to them, but the greenery, shade and privacy that they provided were part of the genetic makeup of our yard.

In the summer we sit out back and feel relaxed just looking at the green.  On winter weekends we sip coffee at the kitchen, watch the kids building snowmen and marvel at the way the snow sits on the branches.  There are so very few moments that my husband and I take to “breathe” and I can honestly say that so many of the times that we do, the tree line was somehow involved.

I can’t begin to express our sense of loss.  I know it may seem senseless when we should just be feeling grateful for all that we are blessed with.  We are grateful, believe me.  That said, this is a real loss for our family and to the way that we enjoy our time in the backyard.

All day long I found myself humming “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie….the day the music died.”

Warm summer nights and early dawn
To that gorgeous treeline I was drawn
Somehow I became quite withdrawn
The Day the Green was Gone

I started singing: bye bye to that gorgeous treeline
To the leaves, to the shade,
To the dangling vine.
Where the kids would play while we’d relax and recline
This is heaven, isn’t this just divine?
We’re in heaven, isn’t this just divine?

And for 7 years we enjoyed the green
The beautiful colour, the gorgeous scene
But that’s just how it used to be.
When the kids they played beneath the shade
Where they jumped in leaf piles that they made
And we sat just watching, you and me

Oh and while we just sat by one day
Someone cut all the trees away.
No warning sign was given,
Away the wood was driven.

And while memories played back in slow-mo
We watched as chunks of green did go
No home for our cardinals or the crow
The Day the Green Was Gone.

Wishing you a day filled with beauty.

Please take a moment today to stop and take in some green. For me.

Tanya