Years ago, my mom gave me some details about the neighborhood she grew up in in Toledo. She told me about the beautiful American Elm trees that once lined her childhood street....that is, until the day the city had them all cut down due to Dutch Elm Disease. It was a huge loss for her neighborhood, as the streets were now bare of so many trees. Although hard numbers can be hard to come by, it's been estimated that 77 million American Elm trees were lost to the disease between the 1930s and 1970s.
So imagine my surprise when, one day recently, I happened to be in the basement of my dad's place and I gazed out one of the windows to see, to my amazement....
Yup, those are American Elm trees, the ones my mom had lamented the loss of so many years ago. Obviously, due to their current location, they can't grow very much, and young trees don't develop Dutch Elm Disease for the first 10 years. At the moment though, they appear to be thriving. It's amazing to me how life finds a way...
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