It was rotten. For thirty years we had woken up and looked out our window at the mighty oak tree standing strong in our garden. It had stood there like a protector of its land since we moved in and in many ways it had become part of the family. We had watched our kids grow up under its leaves and more recently have seen our grandkids try to climb it. We were told by arborists years ago to have the tree felled, or at least have part of it removed but we could not bring ourselves to do it. So the tree has remained but it is now time to say goodbye. We called the tree removal company in Brisbane and asked them to come and have a look and decide on the best course of action. I think we were both hoping the tree surgeon would come and say we were being over cautious and the tree could stay. Unfortunately we were not being over cautious. He said the tree was rotting from the inside out and out of safety concerns he advises we get it removed straight away. We arranged for the tree lopping in Brisbane to take place next weekend and we invited all the kids round to have one last play with the tree. In fact we decided to move the table outside and have dinner under its long branches. We found the carvings the kids had done when they were all at school and we even found remnants of the tree house we had tried to build over ten years ago. The tree would be taking a lot of memories away with it. It’s removal though is a nice reminder that it really truly lived with us, it was an organic part of our family that has run its course and provided us with so many smiles over the years.