Bradford Pears

When I was younger, there was a Bradford Pear Tree that stood outside of my home. These trees are not so suitable for climbing, but against my mother's wishes I climbed it anyway. I could never make it to the very top of those branches. When I was old enough to climb that tree, I was too heavy for the topmost branches. They were too thin and I was too heavy.

I could make it about three quarters up the limbs. I could never reach the top.

Too thin.

Too heavy.

One night, lightning split the tree and it fell. I would never reach the top. The top and the rest of the tree hit the ground and was soon hauled away. Stuffed into the back of some nondescript truck with the other victims of that storm. Branches that 24 hours previously waved and swayed in the wind, whose branches played host to a multitude of children, but no more.

Too thin.

Too heavy.