The following is a client letter we received at Meyer Wells during the holidays 2007.

Dear Ones,

This is such a great tradition, this writing of Holiday cards. It reminds us to stay in touch with our loved ones near and far and to remember to tell you that we appreciate you! WE DO! This year has had its ebbs and flows and still (as Jimmy Stewart found out in that Christmas classic) It’s a Wonderful Life! We are all well! Emily continues to embrace the world with enormous passion, connection and multi-cultural appreciation. She keeps us in stitches with her uniquely hilarious anecdotes of life’s adventures. We took a relaxing trip to Kona this year where we rendezvoused with Chuck and Patti and played with friends from Richard’s work. In November we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and have spent most of this year being grateful for that! We don’t have so many regrets in our lives and we are thankful for what we have learned when things HAVE gotten gummed up! The motto is and has ever been “onward and upward.” Here is a little story about a truly poignant week in our lives this October. Like so much of life, there was a lot to be learned from it all. We thought some of you would enjoy sharing it with us. To the rest of you, we wish you boundless good cheer, as well! Here it is:

The Oak

It was a dark and stormy night…It really was! The wind was howling and we hunkered around a fire trying to keep warm without electrical power. Richard shouldered the weather to wander into the night to collect firewood. A sudden enormous gust of wind arose and the ancient Oak near the woodpile groaned and creaked. It was then that Richard saw the crack gaping and moving with the wind. It ran vertically down the center of her trunk like a Thanksgiving wishbone while the sides played one another squeezebox-style. The Oak hung precariously above the rooftops of four homes! And there was no hint of the wind abating.

The Oak has been our Identity, our Home base, our Safe Zone, our Roots for as long as Richard and Emily can remember. It had grown and stretched itself over the neighborhood and into the atmosphere well over 100 feet! Over the years, it has hosted children who lay in leonine sprawlings over its accommodating braches. It has offered solace and borne witness to each of us in times of despair. It has provided shelter and bounteous “haycorns” to countless wildlife. It has been a talkative friend. Its leaves always had something to chat about and it offered musical notes and liquid trills to those intuitive enough to put their ear to its trunk and simply wait. And now she was in crisis.

We quickly warned all of our neighbors (in person as we still had no power) and sent them scattering to safe areas of their properties. Nine arborists were willing to speak with us the very next day. They all agreed the tree had to come down. Within one emotional day, we found and placed our trust in Scott at Four Seasons Tree Care who astutely sized up the immediate danger and breathtaking technicality of the situation. (There was no road access to the Oak. It was in a backyard accessed by only a small gate and surrounded on all sides by homes.) He understood that we were terribly sad and needed help resourcing someone who could mill and use the oak respectfully (rather than relegating it to firewood) on very short notice. He hooked us up with Seth Meyer who is a fine furniture maker and salvages urban trees (www.meyerwells.com) With impeccable clarity, Seth was fully Present immediately. So began a sensitive alliance and connection with the Oak, the arborists and with us. Seth and Scott gracefully united their talents and were able to carefully orchestrate a gentle metamorphosis for that good tree. Our friend, Sondra, wrote this intuitive haiku for her.

Embracing the wind
The mighty Oak has a dream
Time now to transform

Milling Day was like an old-fashioned harvest celebration! Seth arrived on a dazzling crisp morning with a portable mill and milling crew. Our parents were with us in presence and in spirit. One after another, dear friends and neighbors came to offer the Oak their respect and to tell stories about her impact on their lives, to share photographs they had taken of the Oak in various seasons, or to simply offer their companionship and bear witness. Some neighbors requested favorite pieces to use to build something special in their homes. There was good-spirited conversation and cooperation, pizza, fresh air and the sense of Knowing that life is full of Blessings! All at once, to our joy and surprise, the day became an unplanned, festive, and much-appreciated wake! Each time a slab was milled, there was a rush to the slab to see what was revealed. It reminded us of breaking open geodes to see what treasure lay inside. The Story of the Tree was exposed in every segment. We could see where she had mended herself and where she had drawn life into herself; where nourishment was scarce and where it was abundant. Seth impulsively and with extraordinary generosity created two magnificent garden benches that offer beautiful, accommodating solace very reminiscent of the Oak. In about a year, when the wood has properly cured at Meyer Wells, Seth will be able to craft a kitchen table for us that will continue to remind us of this good tree, the bounty surrounding us all, and of this journey. It was a brilliant collaborative effort between the arborists, the artist, and our friends and family…all united by the love and appreciation for an Oak Tree.

Dick and Donna Majer

Red Elm from Des Moines Memorial Drive. Des Moines Memorial Drive was created in 1922 to memorialize soldiers from the area who were lost during WWI, and also as a living symbol the community’s commitment to work for peace throughout the world. The trees reached the end of their natural lives and were in decline when a plan to renew the memorial came into being with the help of Susan Black Landscape Architects, who informed us of the plan to replace the trees. Many of the original trees have now been removed and were salvaged by Meyer Wells.

The trees are still in log form and will take from 6 months to a year to be turned into useable materials. Some of the trees have distinctive character including burls and crotches. If you are interested in using this material for a future project, please contact john@meyerwells.com. Projects that involve veterans, memorials, or peace-related missions or activities are of particular interest. The material has not yet been milled and is currently in log form. There are approximately 30 logs of various diameters, roughly 90 years old.