Loss of (Tree) Limb

Oh, goodness, peeps.

I’ll admit to being a bit of a hot mess express over the last twenty-four hours.

I’m so grateful I’ve made it a practice to really acknowledge the good days we have around our household. Whether it’s a random day, a special occasion day, a holiday or even a travel day…I’ve tried to make it a serious practice to marinate in the goodness and record it for posterity.

And that was our Tuesday.

It was a lovely, productive, cocooned, unexpected “snow day” with such solid, quality time. Happy, happy, joy, joy. 

But then, yesterday (Wednesday), things felt much different.

For starters, we lost power for about seven hours, beginning in the middle of the night.

With the hubby out of town this week for work, it set me on edge knowing the responsibility would fall to me if something disastrous came from that power outage.

Worse still, it was deeply unsettling to listen to the creaking of giant tree limbs, the inevitable fracturing, and the ultimate fallout throughout the day.

I was so anxious; watching, wondering, worrying exactly how bad it might get. 

In fact, we were stuck indoors, thanks to a giant area of live oaks that sagged so heavily with ice that the driveway was blocked.

Thank heavens those particular trees didn’t snap, but I had to get very creative, removing a section of our stone landscaping today so I could drive over mulch and yard to make it off the property.

This is the area I needed to drive through—oye.

Talk about making a gal feel uneasy!

Though— all those feelings of anxiety and unease are understandable, yes? 

Especially when you consider the last major winter storm that hit us exactly two years ago caused a burst pipe and considerable fallout of every kind: total loss of the downstairs of our home, destruction of our pool, and—let’s be honest—destruction of our sanity, so soon after we’d gutted this dang house to begin with.

I get it. I totally get why I have these complicated winter-weather emotions. And a general fear of the month of February, if I’m honest.

But understanding where it all comes from doesn’t keep me from feeling so sad about it. The vastness of my lingering emotions related to that whole mess is astounding.

I mean, it’s been a full two years, and our house has been put back together for eighteen months. Surely, I can put all that behind me and not feel the kind of stress and general anxiety that comes with these winter storms??

Alas, those feelings of anxiety and uncertainty are just…there. And I’m not sure they will ever alleviate to a significant degree—at least, not while we remain in this very house.

Now. Let’s circle back to the specifics of this day (and much of yesterday), that added a new layer of property/home sadness.

This time, it was all the tree loss that had me so blue.

By the time the sun was up this morning, it was clear that we’d suffered some additional, significant limb losses to some of our largest trees—including the beloved tree that’s above our pool. Our beautiful, beautiful tree that anchors our backyard, is the view when you walk in the front door of our home, and is such a happy canopy of partial shade when we’re swimming.

Ugh. It just hurt in a very significant way to watch various smaller sections snap and crack every few hours, and then to wake up this morning and see a larger section broken, as well.



Needless to say, I was motivated to do what I could to halt the damage, fully sever the cracked limbs, and preserve these trees on our property!

Luckily, I hit the absolute jackpot with a neighbor’s recommendation of an arborist. This company answered immediately, arrived on property for an estimate within hours, and had a crew here to begin the work, just an hour after that.

I mean, talk about being floored!

I’m sorry to say that I’ve been conditioned throughout our years here in San Antonio to expect poor service, criminal service, exorbitant prices, non-responsiveness, theft, I mean…we’ve been through it all.

In fact, I’ve been so conditioned to brace myself for the worst with any and all vendors that, after I finished speaking with this gentleman today, and secured his company’s services, I came inside and cried. No joke! I literally cried over a positive, seamless experience. Nuts!

(San Antonio, you’ve been a little tough on me.)

And I’m also a little embarrassed to admit that I got emotional as they removed some of the broken tree branches on some of these beloved trees.

It’s impossible to understand the damage until the limbs have been removed and you see the gaping area where they once were. Of course, it doesn’t help that everything looks winter-barren right now.

Now. All this rambling about winter-related trauma and the sadness of some of these losses aside—I’m not completely out of touch! I’m aware that there are far worse issues in the world than all of this.

These are just trees.

And before the trees, it was just a burst pipe. Or a busted pool. And a torn up kitchen and flooring and fireplace, blah, blah, blah.

It’s not life.

The life, we can appreciate and preserve within these four walls while we deal with all the rest. 

And I have to believe that every home-related experience—weather or otherwise—has taught us something since living here. Or, at the very least, I can say that these events have each made us see certain aspects of our home and life in a slightly different light. I have to believe that, in order to maintain my homeowner sanity!

BUT. We can certainly hope and pray for no more unexpected ice storms.

At least this year. ;)

Looking forward to sunnier days—literally and figuratively—as we head into the weekend. Soooon!

Over and out.