The Gifts that Keep Growing

Hi everyone,

Almost exactly a year ago we said goodbye to two magnificent trees that had stood beside our home for more than three decades.

It was one of the saddest days we’ve experienced here.

I wrote about it in a piece called The Gifts of Letting Go.

After a third tree had fallen onto our house earlier that spring, we could no longer ignore the risk.

All that remained was the stump of the eighty year-old grand dame — the birch — which we purposely preserved to serve as an altar of sorts for our Buddha statue and as a quiet thank-you to the tree.

This is how she looked the day we said goodbye:

And after the crew had just left.

It’s been almost a year. And to our surprise, something beautiful happened.

Not because we planned it. Not because we landscaped (though we thought about it).

Simply because the garden kept responding.

The evergreens, once dwarfed beneath the birch, have nearly doubled in size.
The hostas seem happier than ever.
More light pours into the house.

And the little altar we left behind is now wrapped in lush green life.

We thought we were saying goodbye.

Perhaps the tree simply found a different way to keep giving.

Whether it was the added sunlight, the birch’s long years of nourishing the soil, or something more mysterious, I can’t say.

But standing there now, it’s hard not to feel that she is still giving.

Ahhh 🌳🙏🏼

In case you missed these…

Photos and video by Stephanie Bennett Vogt

(Best with sound)

🔸SAVOR Life - Weekly Pause

The Gifts of Letting Go

·

July 25, 2025

How does one process a day filled with sadness and awe?
How does one process the exhaustion that follows?
How does one process a loss, feel the heartbreak, integrate unnatural jolts to the system?

You can read my answers here.

Share