Among the great things about my quiet Condo community are the trees.  There are many varieties, but  I  especially fell in love with a Colorado blue spruce.  It was near my back deck, standing tall and majestic, and I often marveled that it was beautiful enough to stand in Rockefeller Center.  I once read that the Center‘s head gardener scouts holiday trees from communities in the northeast and beyond – and often thought what a great honor that must be.

 

With that memory stuck in my mind, I nicknamed the spruce my Rockefeller tree, as a tribute to all the years I spent in New York City, most in Brooklyn,  and how I still adore visiting Rockefeller Center around the holidays.  Of course, it could never be donated because it belonged to the Condo Association, but that was a minor point.  It was nestled close to two other spruce trees and created a sheltering feeling.

 

In early March, a hundred year wind storm took down my beloved spruce – while sparing its partners. Yet in a small miracle, I found the spruce nestled against a bare ash tree on the other side of the fence,with its roots pulled up.  There was no collateral damage anywhere. The tree seemed at peace.   I will consider that final act  to be confirmation that it was indeed “magical,” protected by a neighboring tree even in its final days .

 

The crew cutting up the fallen spuce saved a round hunk of its trunk for me at my request.  I  was very sad that last morning,  but also finally accepting  such a sudden, spectacular ending.  I will miss my Rockefeller tree!