Grandmother Oak still stands! I was so happy to read those words in a text from Prairiewoods Director Jenifer Hanson following the derecho storm. Like many others, soon after the storm ended, I thought about Prairiewoods, hoping and praying that everyone was all right. I was sad to hear that many trees at Prairiewoods were damaged or lost, but I was heartened when I learned that Grandmother Oak still stands.
In the days when the power was out, before I could read the news myself, I was told that Cedar Rapids lost half her tree canopy in the derecho. From what I’ve seen, that sounds like an accurate assessment. Throughout the city (and throughout Iowa) I wonder, how many Grandmother Trees have we lost? A few days after the storm I was able to get to the Grandmother Oak in my own particular home forest. I rushed to her as soon as I could. Along the way and around this grandmother, I was shocked by the loss of canopy and the amount of open sky. Normally I feel like I’m in the forest. But now … I’m at a loss for words. It feels disorienting, and I think I am still in shock. Something living is missing. A massive, grandmotherly life is missing and I’m feeling the whole of it like a phantom limb. And how are the trees who lost pieces of themselves feeling? They too must feel the phantom limbs.
I received a beautiful card in the mail from my godmother. It was a tree sympathy card and this act of kindness brought the release of mourning tears. Yes, we are mourning. We are mourning the loss of tree friends, tree family members. I believe the trees are mourning too. Let us pray for the trees, for all the birds and animals who lost their homes and friends, let us pray for each other. Let us pray for the whole.
Sister Nancy said we lost the Bur Oak by the Center. But she and the wonderful volunteers working morning till evening to restore the forest and land found so many tiny trees and baby trees who made it, and who will now grow in the years to come. Trees that will one day fill the canopy and become the new Grandmother Trees. Let us pray for these new little trees. May they be healthy and loved and strong. May they live good long lives.
Meanwhile, the Grandmother Oak at Prairiewoods still stands. She is still teaching her children and grandchildren how to live, how to breathe, how to be part of the whole living forest.
—Angie Pierce Jennings, Prairiewoods hosted groups and hospitality coordinator