A severe thunderstorm crossed Washington, D.C., on the night of September 3, bringing down hundreds of trees across the region. Winds gusted to 64 miles an hour at Reagan National Airport.
One of the trees stood on the north side of the park at Dupont Circle. It snapped about 15 feet up, leaving a stump where a massive shade tree had been.
Then people started pinning notes to it.
They thanked it for the shade. They thanked it for the oxygen. Some wrote out particular memories. Others apologized for grieving a tree they barely knew. One writer thanked it for fifteen years of friendship. Another told it that even what was left of it made them feel whole.
Crowds gathered at the stump to read what strangers had written and add their own. Some drove in from the Maryland suburbs.
A single leafy branch was still growing from the top of the broken trunk. One visitor looked up at it and said there was a little sprig of hope up there.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
