Willow

Generally, I'm not given to affection for things like trees.

There was a tree at my university that got struck by lightning and they had to chainsaw it. It was like 150 years old or something and all sorts of folks wrote poems about it in the school paper.

But I've got a tree situation going on before my very eyes. See, we have this willow tree in our front yard. It was the first thing I trimmed when we moved in. The neighbors all comment on it because it's so big and full and it really looks great. We tell pizza delivery guys and other visitors to our place that, "Right after you turn, we're the house with the big willow tree in the front."

Now there's a foot-long crack in one of the main branches off the trunk. It creaks when the wind blows. I can't tell if the crack's getting longer, but it must be. I can't tell if the crack is wider, but I think it's growing.

I know willows aren't like other trees that last really long times. This one's probably 25 years old. It might be sick and this is how they tell you.

But I'm pretty sure there's somebody that has invented some system to stop foot-long cracks from the main branches off the trunk and maybe even repair it. Because if it falls off, we'll likely have to chop the tree down. It'd look awful without this branch.

So, if you know of any tree-fixing guys, lemme know.

I don't want to lose this tree just yet.

Even if I'm not exactly sure why I care about this tree so much.