A lot can happen in a year. Our maple tree is a visual reminder of that. A year ago today I posted the first picture on Instagram, saying: “One of the best things about working in the writing shed? This view.”

But in the last 12 months, this tree has experienced long stretches in which the air was thick with ash and smoke; and then, most devastatingly, an ice storm that in one night injured or destroyed many thousands of trees in our area. I came to think of it as the coronavirus of ice storms, because it seemed to hit the most mature trees hardest.

I’m not sure what the ultimate fate of this maple will be. We have experts coming to look at it, but they’re so busy after the ice storm that it will be months before they get here. I hope it will survive, if permanently changed.

Besides the people who live in and near our house, that tree is my favorite feature of our property. It bears the marks (as we all do) of a year of trials and brokenness and grief and—we’ll see—maybe resilience.