“Mommy, the tree fell down!” Robin had just started nursing the baby, so she sent our daughter to verify her younger brother’s story. She started screaming.

When Chris let his office know that he would not be in the next day, the general consensus was that the tree was most likely a Bradford Pear. Bradford Pears are famous for falling on things, but doing little damage thanks to their flimsy nature. If only we were so lucky.

As Robin picked our daughter up from school, a typical late spring storm had already started. She and the kids raced through the rain from school to the car. By the time they arrived home, the rain was heavy and there was quite a lot of lightning, thunder, and small sized hail. For a moment, Robin thought about waiting the storm out in the car, but she thought better of it.

Through the heavy rain and hail, Robin ran to the front door to unlock and open it. She ran back to the car, hustled the kids into the house, and sat down to nurse the baby, who was fussing. Our son went to the window to watch the storm (which was very impressive). And just like that, the tree was down on the minivan.

We bought that minivan early this year in anticipation of becoming a family of five. A side window was smashed. Branches had snapped across the entirety of the minivan—leaving it with many dents, both big and small. The main trunk of the tree, which settled just above the passenger seat, was so heavy that it would not move in the least.

Even so, we have to count ourselves among the lucky. Had the tree fallen two minutes earlier, it would have hit with the kids inside by themselves or just outside the minivan.

After all that, we had leftovers for dinner. Over the weekend we went to Café Isis up in Mays Chapel. Greta was miserable, so we did not have the most pleasant of meals, but not for the lack of good food. Tonight, we eat the remaining barbecue chicken pita along with a smart little salad.

Sarah and Eric were nice enough to bring Moxley’s ice cream (even after they were told not to). They are moving away this month and we will miss them being this close. Being so close, one or both of them were the first on the scene for our little family events, including our son’s birth and the tree today. Even though they will not be that much farther away, it just will not be the same.

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