Our trees were a little shaggy when we moved in. So, less than two years later, we hired someone to trim them.(Pro Tip: Landscaping is not our passion.)
Zoe and Leo were excited to see the crew start working this morning. But when we got in the car, Zoe was upset. “They’re taking our trees!” she wailed.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’re just trimming them. It’s like a haircut. It’s good for the trees.”
She looked up at the previously very shaggy maple in the backyard (Pro Tip: like, branches-caressing-the-roof shaggy) and her eyes grew wide. “It doesn’t feel familiar!”
See how the tree branches don’t even touch the roof? That’s new.
And I have to admit: Zoe was right.
I know it is healthier for the trees and safer for the house. I know that “shaggy” is not the look we ought to be striving for. (“Respectable” is the word the professionals use.) But we’ve grown used to our shaggy trees and the copious shade they provide. The newly trimmed trees don’t feel familiar. Our yard is not the same. The view out the living room windows isn’t as leafy as it was, and our house feels a little exposed.
Even when it’s good change, change is hard. It doesn’t feel familiar.
But it does feel good to make the trees in our care “respectable” again. I’m sure they appreciate it.
What changes–good or bad–are making things unfamiliar for you these days?
Never Done It That Way Before 
Cleaning up the garage, dejunking the house, all create unfamiliarity. But it is good unfamiliarity!
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SO true, on both counts! I need to create a little more unfamiliarity in that department . . .
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