{"id":1894,"date":"2016-05-03T14:31:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T19:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/?p=1894"},"modified":"2016-05-03T15:14:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T20:14:54","slug":"goodbye-to-the-greenwich-street-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/explore-new-york\/goodbye-to-the-greenwich-street-tree","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye to the Greenwich Street Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tree wasn\u2019t a towering oak on the rolling landscape of a New York City park, a magnificent elm with big-shouldered limbs, or a bright, showy dogwood welcoming the spring on a village street. It was, in fact, the most unlikely of survivors, sort of scrawny, alone, between city buildings and flanking some very inhospitable pavement and metal. But survive and hang in there? Yes, it did.<\/p>\n

In fact, this highly unusual tree on the block of Greenwich Street between West 10th and Charles streets was like no other I\u2019ve seen in New York. It adapted to survive while chain-link fence impinged on it, to the point of the trunk having the fence\u2019s pattern carved into its surface, as documented in a Mindfulwalker.com photo essay in 2011. (See “A Tree Grows in Chain Link<\/a>.”) If this tree ever heralded anything, it might have been the message that life can be tough but don\u2019t let it defeat you.<\/p>\n

It survived this way for quite a while. I made periodic walks to this block of Greenwich Street to check up on this tree and say hello, usually during early spring or fall. Even when not visiting, I thought of the special, feisty tree on Greenwich Street. As this winter was giving way to spring, I decided to pay a visit. However, as I was walking the blocks of the West Village, I had a sense that it was like a friend with whom I lost touch for too long. Something could be amiss, and it was \u2013 the tree was gone. The fence and driveway looked cleaner and tidier, yet emptier and sadder to this visitor who had felt a bond with the tree.<\/p>\n

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