One of the first things we did when Leroy and I moved to this home was to plant a special Dogwood tree in the front of the property.  I gues it was our way of making the place our own.  We’d remodeled the house, basically to fit Leroy’s 6-foot 5-inch size and the little Dogwood was the finishing touch.

Each Spring, the little tree would blossom and slowly grow.  It fought for every ray of sunshine because the big oaks and poplars towered above it and grabbed most of the light….still, the little Dogwood lived on. 

After Leroy passed away, I took extra care of that tree because it was a living reminder of “us.”

Last Summer, a microburst blew through here and brought down tree limbs and fences and caused a lot of damage.  When I went outside to check on the yard, I found the little tree was buried under huge limbs.  It was bent over and I could not clear the debris, it was just too heavy to move.  Luckily  friends drove by and saw that I was very upset over the state of my little Dogwood and with electric saws, they freed the little tree. 

This spring, I gave it extra fertilizer and waited for the blossoms…but there were none. 

I’ve been so sad about losing that tree.  Another piece of “us” was gone.  I finally asked my landscaper to replace the tree with a new Dogwood.  The replacement tree would be better than looking at the bare branches.  That was just about to happen, when my landscaper noticed the little Dogwood has new leaves at the base of the trunk. Today when we took a closer look, new leaves are sprouting all over the bottom of the tree…it lives!

So now that little tree will get a special fence for extra protection.  It will get special food to make it strong and healthy again.

It looks like that little Dogwood has a lot of the same quallities Leroy had.

I can’t wait to see that first blossom.