Sixth of eight stories in the Yard Notes series, in loving memory of my father. Dad sent me dreams...

Date:   9/5/2007 3:39:21 AM ( 17 y ago)

Photograph by Liora Leah August 2007



Tree Dreams

A few years ago I had a dream about the trees in the back yard. I dreamed that I had some time off, and I took the opportunity to go on vacation. When I came home, four trees in the backyard had been chopped down. Two of the three fichus trees had been cut down, and there was no sign that they had ever existed; the ground where they had stood was completely flat, cleared of all vegetation, and the dirt had been raked smooth--you could see the little furrows from the rake in the dirt. The ground looked like one of those Zen gardens made of sand. Only stumps remained of what had once been the Brazilian pepper tree and the non-edible plum tree. The tree removers were to come in one week's time to remove the stumps.

In the dream, Dad had authorized and arranged for the trees to be removed while I was away. I was very upset and kept asking him how he could have done such a thing, to have the trees chopped down like that without even discussing it with me, especially given that he had planted them himself over 45 years ago. In the dream, Dad looked larger than life, standing very straight and tall, his hair and beard full and dark, his face as I usually remember him when he was in his 50’s. Very authoritatively he said to me "even trees have a lifespan. These trees were diseased; they had to be removed in order to make way for the new." Then I woke up.

In retrospect, I believe that Dad was communicating to me through the dream, soul-to-soul. I think that Dad was referring to himself when he talked about a lifespan, and that through the dream and the metaphor of his beloved trees, I was being prepared in the best way he knew how by telling me that his time on Earth was coming to an end, and that soon he was going to be moving on.