Even though my father had been ill for years, his death caught me by surprise. It came too soon, before I had the wisdom and courage to repair the damage to our relationship. You know what I mean, there was a long-term relationship problem that started ... well, I could barely remember when or why. Once it was too late to fix, of course, I was very sad that I had allowed the problem to continue.
I lived with my family in the “silicon valley” area south of San Francisco. Two years after my father’s death, a small article in the local newspaper caught my attention. The article described a fund-raising program by a non-profit called Sempervirens Fund, an organization dedicated to the preservation of redwood forest lands. A donor could choose to have a redwood tree planted in honor of a loved one or, alternately, could dedicate an old-growth redwood tree as a memorial. The funds collected by Sempervirens would be used to purchase additional redwood forest and wildlands in Santa Cruz Mountain parks. I chose to dedicate an old-growth redwood as a memorial to my father. With the help of a Sempervirens member, I wandered through the park one day and selected my Dad’s tree. My mother was thrilled with the idea. From time to time we visited “Dad’s tree,” which has Dad’s name on a small plaque in the ground near the tree’s base. Mom told me that she would like to be remembered in the same manner after her death. We honored Mom’s request just a few years ago.
The old plaque near Dad’s tree, after nearly 25 years of weathering, was recently replaced with a new one. I have the old plaque at home. My wife chose to honor her parents in the same manner, with dedicated redwood trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The trees will be there for years to come and, due in part to the donations of people who choose to dedicate living memorials to their loved ones, the redwood forests will be there for our descendants to enjoy.
It's funny how that 35ish year old piece of plastic makes me so happy.
