The tree that could have been....

Today we had some freakish thunderstorms roll in out of nowhere.  In fact, in the space of an hour I received no less than three severe weather alerts on my phone.

We watched the storm move in from the windows of the office - and all hoped they'd roll right on out before we had to try and make our way home, because they were pretty fierce.

By the time 5:00 pm finally rolled around - the majority of the storms had left the area and so I headed home - ready for a long weekend.  It's only long because on Monday I decided that I couldn't face an entire week at the office and took tomorrow off.  I had planned on doing a little cleaning and a little self-indulgence in the form of a long, over-due pedicure maybe.

Until I got home and was faced with this...

And I almost cried.  Seriously.

I was so proud of that little tree.  I recall working so very hard - all by myself, I might add - to plant that tree.  The boys were gone and I was bound  and determined to get that little maple (?) into the ground.  As I recall the hardest part wasn't digging through the rock hard clay to plant it.  No, the hardest part was trying to remove the tree from its little pot.

I remember sitting on the ground, with sweat pouring down my face, while I braced my feet against the pot and trying to pull that root-bound tree free.  I remember thinking " Boy, the neighbors must be getting quite the show this afternoon" while watching me through windows as I battled with that tree.

Eventually, of course, I freed the tree and got it planted.  And it thrived.  In the three or four years since I waged the epic battle to set that tree free it has thrived and grown.  It has survived the winters and withstood the heat and storms that have battered it.  Until today.

Before the possibility of selling this house ever arose, I had been imagining that tree ten or fifteen years from now.  I had been dreaming of the magnificent tree that it would one day become.  Even after we agreed that we might sell, I could still see myself driving by and seeing "my" tree so big and strong and me smiling at its growth.

Today, my little tree has died.

I will, of course, try to save it.  I've already Googled "how to save a split tree" and see that it can be done - but I have a feeling that the damage is too severe.  But despite that, and Hubby's skepticism, I have  to try.

Poor little tree.