Even If We've Forgotten
I'm guessing, but we probably planted the tree around 1965 or 1966, but it could have been earlier. What I do know is that the tree wasn't always there.
This would have made me around three or four when Dad, with my help, dug the hole in our front yard, right through the lawn we kids weren't supposed to dig up. We kept putting the sapling's rootball into the hole to measure its depth. Dad showed me on the tree's skinny trunk how deep we wanted it to be, so we dug and measured until it was perfect. Then we pushed the pile of dark, somewhat clayey soil back into the hole, packing it in around the roots.
It wasn't much of a tree. Our neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina was populated with the towering remnants of a pine forest that had been carved out for our suburban cul-de-sac. This tree wasn't a pine, although it was an evergreen of some sort. I remember thinking it looked a lot like a tiny Christmas tree.
We fertilized and watered, then Dad stood up, leaning on his CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Even If We've Forgotten