Hi. It’s Saturday. I’m Hal and this is my book-in-progress “Living in a Body.” Help build this community by clicking the PLAY button above. If you enjoy what I write, please share this with one friend. Thank you! Hal
Episode 6 - Bringing Down the Norwegian
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For years, I resisted the temptation to cut the tree down. I mean it was a Norway Spruce. Half my family is Norwegian. My dog Nell was a Norwegian Elkhound. In my world, you just don't go cutting things down that are Norwegian. Seriously though, this was a big tree. Even though it was jammed up next to the garage for all those years, this tree had some wisdom. For all I know, it was older than me. And then there’s the environmental impact of cutting down a big tree like that. Let's just say, I put it off for years.
But the tree was in the way.
You see, in my normal (pre severe ME/CFS) life, I'm a gardener. You can ask my next door neighbor, Merl. He's seen the way I've transformed that backyard from a concrete turn-around for three cars to a living, breathing ecosystem. My specialty is blueberries, lettuce, chard, okra, tomatoes, purple green beans and compost. But if you look closely in the picture below, you'll see that there was a big tree in the way. No matter how many low branches I cut off, the funny looking Christmas tree at the top would cast a big shadow on my garden all morning long.
In the late Spring of 2019, I made a difficult decision. I called Jim the tree guy and I hired him to bring down the Norwegian. The story I’m about to tell you is the incredible domino effect of good things that happened after that tree was removed.
The downing of the tree had an almost immediate effect on the garden. Suddenly, my early summer lettuce plants and baby chard plants seemed so happy drinking up the newfound morning sunlight. Suddenly, there was a wide open sky that brought a real freshness to the back corner of my yard. I soon realized that this fresh new space, without all those falling pine needles, was a brand new sitting area.
So, I found the electric sander in the basement and I dragged out the neglected, wrought iron bench from the garage and I got to work. Now mind you -- I’m not someone who knows how to refinish a bench. I mean I was raised to be a “thinker” not a carpenter. (see Sudden Onset) I took the bench apart piece by piece. I sanded and polyurethaned all the wood. I even replaced one of the slats with a new piece of pine.
My newfound talent with an electric sander inspired me to drag out the neglected ping-pong table from the back of the garage and sand the surface so it would be playable once again. Kim and I started playing ping pong every night and when we were done, we would rest on the newly refinished bench with an unobstructed view of the sky and the moon. When Merl wasn't looking, we'd make mad passionate love out there beneath the stars . (Just kidding - I love you, Kim ❤️ ... and you too, Merl.)
Our experience playing nightly ping pong led Kim and me on a Google search of places to play in the Akron area. Amazingly, we discovered that the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy was less than a half hour away from my home. We showed up at the academy one night and my lifelong passion for table tennis was reignited. One of the things I grieve most about living with severe ME/CFS is the loss of those visits to the SDTTA. For a little over a year before the pandemic, I found a home away from home there. I miss it so much. It was just starting to feel like family. When I’d walk in the door, people would shout out, “Hal!” If you haven’t been there yet, I highly recommend a visit. Tell Samson Dubina that Hal sent you and that I hope to be back someday.
Right about the same time as taking that tree down, some Kent UU friends and I took a look at the empty lot behind the church and realized how overgrown and unkept it had become. The old benches were laying there broken down and rotting. The wild of Ohio had taken over the land. Without asking for permission, we dove into those briar patches and cleared out truckloads of small trees, poison ivy and brush. As a secret mission, I took the benches home piece by piece on my scooter and started making 'em new again.
I remember thinking to myself, “After all the years that I’ve complained about those benches being neglected, it never once occurred to me that I could actually do something about it.” Well, I did something about it.
Wooden slat by wooden slat, right next to the flourishing garden, I began the process of refinishing those benches. I sanded, stained, painted and polyurethaned and then put it all back together with stainless steel hardware so the benches would last forever. That September, I was on fire with my covert bench rebuilding project. I can still smell the September air.
When the first two benches were finally done, Cameron and I did a late night covert installation. We used the car headlights to guide the set up. I was determined that no one was gonna find out who know who had done it.
I’m confident that all this happened because of the sacrifice of that Norway Spruce. Thank you, Norwegian. Thank you for the ping-pong. Thank you for the benches. May these benches forever be a tribute to your gift. May the ping-pong table bring many hours of joy and may we continue to tell your story for years to come.
So I ask you, reader. I ask you, listener…
“What metaphorical trees need to be cut down in your life so that the sunlight can shine on the garden and make a cascade of good things happen?”
If you’re willing, please leave a response in the comments.
One thing I know for sure is that taking the tree down is the easy part. We’re the ones that have to do the work of sanding the ping pong table, clearing away the brush and refinishing the benches. We’re the ones that have to forge the work of building community in a broken world. The sunlight can only do so much. We’re the ones that have to tend the garden.
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Bringing Down the Norwegian