Monthly Archives: May 2025

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Let’s talk trees part two

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After my nephew died in 2000 my sister in laws friends got together and had a tree planted in Andrew’s memory at Jefferson Barrack’s park. She actually drew me a map so I could find it. Except I had been banned from reading maps by Brian in 1991 for sending us in the wrong direction.

The first time I went, it was by myself. I followed Teresa’s map and could not find the tree. Brian’s parents had been there so I called them. Larry asked me where I was at and said turn around, go here, go there and I found the tree which I took this picture for his page in my family scrapbook.

I visited it a couple more times until my van was stolen and they took the map. After Pokémon Go was released I went to play over there and found the tree no problem. I actually thought it would be cool to make his tree a Pokémon stop but by the time I reached level forty I had stopped going to the park to play.

Fast forward to last year. I put Charlie in the car and say we are going to go to Jefferson Barracks and see Andrew’s tree. I walk the entire path and up, down, all the cross paths (it had changed a lot with little climbing stuff for kids added) but I swear I knew where it was. Four and a half miles later and I cannot find it. I’m convinced they either moved it, or it died. I didn’t like either option.

I saw my father in law a couple days later and asked him if it was still there. Why yes he and Judy had been not too long ago. He said you just get out of the car and walk a little bit and it’s right there. So my next day off I put Charlie in the car and we set off. Four miles later and I still haven’t found it. Just as I am about to get in the car and give up, I think I went left maybe I should go right. Sure enough just a little ways up and it was there. So I dropped a pin on Apple Maps so I wouldn’t have this issue again.

It’s amazing how much this tree has grown in twenty-four years. I didn’t realize it until I looked at the first picture.

A couple weeks ago I decide it’s time to go visit the tree. So I load Charlie up in the car. Somehow I end up in Sylvan Springs Park and cannot find my way over to the walking trail. So I’m like I’ll pull up the pin marking the tree. No pin. So I drive around and remembered the year the Washington Lutheran School picnic was at Sylvan Springs and I rode a spin ride with Kyle and Emily and then promptly threw up.

After driving for twenty minutes and getting nowhere I finally gave up and went to the sculpture park. That evening I remembered I have the all trails app so looked up Jefferson Barracks and got the name of the trail. I put that into the GPS and the next time Chuckie and I went we found it no problem. I also dropped another pin on the map.

If you know someone with no sense of direction be kind to them. It is a terrible way to live. I can manage to get lost even with gps. I think I need to visit the park every six months so I don’t lose the tree location.

Mole Moral ~ No matter how lost you are, eventually you will find your way.

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Let’s Talk Trees Part One

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My dad lived about five miles from me for the last twenty years of his life. After his passing I have found myself driving by his house three to four times a week. I have no rational explanation for this except maybe seeing his house makes me remember him.

He died in 2021 and his wife sold the house in 2022 and moved closer to her family. I would meet the new owner Bob within the year. He is a lovely man and I sent him a card afterwards telling him God had chosen the perfect person to own my dad’s house. In the fall of 2022 I drove by the house and noticed Bob had planted a tree in the front yard. I remember getting very excited and thinking this will be the unofficial, official John Carty memorial tree.

Spring arrived and the tree died. I’m not going to lie, I kind of smiled and immediately texted my best friend Meg to tell her. The fall of 2023 I drove by to find another tree in the front yard. I was like yes, an unofficial official John Carty memorial tree but again the the spring of 2024 the tree was dead and I was laughing my head off.

When I first moved into my house in 1990 my dad told me to never plant a tree in the front yard as they are nothing but a pain in the butt. Thinking back he never had a tree in any of his yards. I was sharing with my mother and she said she and my dad planted a tree in the front yard of my childhood home. So I drove by and took a photo of it and showed it to her.

Screenshot

She said that was not the tree but if she still had the photo of me sitting under the tree they planted it would be helpful.

Yes in the fall of 2024 Bob planted a third tree in the front yard. I had decided that if this one dies I would send him a card and tell him to give it up as my dad was blocking him from heaven. All last winter I drove by his house wondering if the tree was going to make it or not.

Around the beginning of April I saw leaves on the new tree. My first thought I was kind of sad it made it because it was fun to think my dad was up in heaven killing trees. However, two seconds later I was like finally an unofficial official John Carty memorial tree.

Last week I went to my hair girls house who just happens to live in same subdivision as my dad (and mom’s) first house. I decided to drive by it (see a pattern here) and I noticed the tree in the front yard had been cut down. I’m thinking it was the storm that blew through a month ago. So after my hair I decide to clean up my scrapbook room and found all the pictures of when I was a little girl. I have no memory of how they got there but I found the picture of my sister and I under the tree in the front yard.

Since the photo is taken from the house looking out into the street I just had to drive back over there to see if it’s the same tree. So I park my car around the corner and walk in front of the house where the stump is and view the street. It’s in the exact same location as the photo and same distance from the street so it has to be the same tree. Luckily I still had the photo of the tree on my phone and now have a picture of the tree my dad planted fifty-seven years ago.

What are the odds that a tree finally starts to grow at the last house my dad lived in and the first tree he planted in the first home he bought died at the same time? Is this a sign that I am totally crazy? Do not answer this question.

Mole Moral ~ Sometimes we do weird things we just can’t explain and then eventually tie them into our story.