Stahlke Adoption

Temptation

I mentioned yesterday that we had lost two trees. Our 200-year-old oak was the subject of much blogging, but the story of our pine tree is also interesting. This tree was small and misshapen, due to a lighting strike in the distant past. Its destruction was in the discussion stages in 2008 when Jonathan and I traveled to Ukraine to adopt Kola. We had not finalized the decision, but life was such a swirl that fall that I thought we had.

When I returned from Ukraine to care for the children, Jonathan remained there for several more weeks to finalize the adoption. Paul wanted to build a tree house, and the pine tree was the obvious choice due to its imminent removal. He asked me if he could top it, so that the platform of his house could be mounted more easily. I gave permission without consulting Jonathan. Mistake.

Paul built the sturdiest tree house ever imagined. He told me he used literally hundreds of nails. It was not beautiful, and it leaned a bit, but for a 14-year-old it was pretty good. Problems started, however, when a neighbor told him that his tree house was an eyesore and should come down. We have always instructed the kids to refer any neighborly complaints to us, so Paul informed me, and I talked to the neighbor myself. I was as polite as I could muster, despite the man criticizing not only the tree house but also our yard. Our lives don't leave much time for making our grass and beds pretty, and we also value freedom for the kids to play and experiment.

The next day, we received a phone call from the village that the tree house would have to come down, due to its danger to children. The inspector also specified that no child, including Paul, was allowed in the tree house. That meant that yours truly had to climb up there, which was not easy, and try to dismantle it. I quickly discovered that it was so well built that the only way to remove it was to cut down the tree.

Several men from our church volunteered to bring their chainsaws and take it all down for me. After sawing through the tree house, they removed the tree limbs one by one. Finally, only the tall trunk of the tree remained. One of the volunteers commented, "You should leave it just like that!" We didn't, of course.

All of this was way more than I bargained for when I came home to care for the kids. But I managed the process, fielding comments, making decisions, and hosting the "party" to bring down the tree. That night I telephoned Jonathan, and he blew a gasket that we had cut down the tree without his approval. That one took a lot of talking to sort out. The whole tree episode was way too much.

posted by Stahlkes @ 3:25 PM