My Memory Tree
November 8, 2007
Hey Dad,
It’s been a red-letter week here at the Wilson home. Not only did we celebrate my birthday, but we also celebrated the first snowfall of the year. As is tradition, we ate dinner at Long John Silvers (don’t ask me how that one started), and we gave each of our children a new pair of gloves, or a new hat, or something ‘snowy.’
As hard as it is to make time for celebrations, the important thing about them is that they create memories, and those memories bring strength, love and comfort years later.
I just know that when my children are adults and see that first snowflake fall from the sky, they’ll remember how much their dad loved snow and how much he loved them.
That’s why I work hard at making and preserving memories—-they help us remember what’s important.
In fact, I just came up with a whopper of an idea. Not only does it preserve memories, but it also solves the problem of getting rid of all the junk that my wife would like to toss but I’m still emotionally attached to.
I’m calling it a memory tree. Actually, it’s a tree that broke during a summer windstorm leaving a 10-foot tall trunk behind. So, this past weekend I sawed off the jaggedy part, had my son Sam (12) carve a big ‘W’ in it and had my son Ike (8) nail my old favorite sandals to the trunk plus a few other trinkets.
Wa-la…memory tree. I envision a tree covered in old toys, shoes, wooden swords, and other memory-making junk in a decade or so. The kids will bring their kids back and remember the important stuff as they point out junk on the memory tree and add their own.
Plus, now I don’t have to throw it away! That’s what I call killing two birds with one tree.
Now, you may not have a tree that your wife will let you cover in junk, but maybe there is another way you can preserve memories. It might be a box filled with stuff, a garage wall covered in “treasures”, or a 3-ring binder stuffed full of photos and memories.
Whatever you do, your children will come back to it, like the Israelites did with those rocks in the Jordan, point to it and say, “Now I remember that…and boy did my dad love me.”
You ‘da dad,
Todd
ethan demme
Nov 8, 10:47 AM
that’s an awesome idea :-)
btw those sandals look perfectly fine to me :-)
dave jorgensen
Nov 8, 11:34 AM
Is the tree thing legal? Or, will tree huggers catch wind of this, circle the tree, hum, chant and give it a big hug, pulling down all the memory items in the process. Might want to consider some ‘tree-huggers’ liability insurance Todd.
David
Nov 8, 12:40 PM
wow
cool
Matt Dunham
Nov 8, 01:42 PM
To help us reduce unneeded storage from time to time, we pretend we had a house fire.
Here’s what we do when we find things we have saved, but wouldn’t have even noticed if they had been lost in the fire: We look at and hold the object, contemplate the memories and reasons it was saved, and then say “Too bad we lost it in the fire…”
We can mourn for the pack-ratted item one last time before we THROW IT AWAY. Very therapeutic and it works.
www.crumbsonmyfloor.com
Nov 8, 01:57 PM
hmmmm…not sure if I would go for this in my backyard. (this is a wife leaving this comment) My hats off to your wife for agreeing to this though.
Love your website for Dads. Keep up the great work!
Take care
Amy
Mark C
Nov 8, 07:14 PM
I love it!! Hmmmm – wonder what the neighborhood HOA would say about that?
Scott S
Nov 9, 07:46 AM
Looks like a “back enough” back yard to pull this off. I’m suspecting there is no HOA involved. Great idea, but we don’t have a big enough tree, except for maybe the palms right in front. Hmmm.. I wonder… Nah! LOL
Kathy J.
Nov 10, 07:44 PM
Wow! I love this idea! I think I want to do the garage wall thing…but what do you do if the Lord calls you to move to a new location? When you sell the house do you put a clause in there that the new owners must let you come look at the tree whenever you want?
JAMES N
Nov 11, 01:00 AM
SORRY, MY WIFE WOULD NOT GO FOR THE MEMORY TREE. BUT I DID PUT A NEW SHED UP IN THE BACK, ITS ALMOST FULL!