By: Kimberly Potter Kendrick

It has been growing for years; out of control wisteria. It blooms and looks pretty for a while, but the roots and vines twist and tighten. The tree begins to find it laborious to breathe. Hastily trimming the vines, but they simply propagate tenaciously. Wisteria’s roots spread into the veins and the tree no longer a separate entity. No longer can the trunk drink rain water from the ground. It’s branches begin to die. Soon the tree’s own roots become unearthed and can no longer hold the trunk’s weight. Once it was a beautiful oak with vivid green leaves in the summer and vibrant orange, red, and yellow in the fall. The season of life has passed and one unsuspecting day the leaning tree falls to the ground. Branches and pieces of bark scatter as the massive trunk hits the soil. Decaying the dust reverts to the earth.