Magnolia Tree

In the front garden of our house, there was a Magnolia tree with beautiful pink flowers in the spring. Every May, the large pink flowers bloomed before the budding leaves and bloomed again in August and this time with green leaves. One of its three main branches was rubbing against the window of the library, the second one outside my window of my room and the third one was leaning over the path to the entrance. One summer, Sinan had a heart attack, and because of all the running around, no one had noticed the Magnolia tree was also diseased. All its branches were covered with some sort of infestation of red insects and after that, they were covered with a whitish moldy substance. And the tree began to dry out at the core. We asked around if there was any kind of remedy to heal our beautiful Magnolia tree but to no avail, there was no cure, and were told to have it cut down.

Sinan said that he and the tree were both sick at the same time and both would be dying. I didn’t say anything back to him, but decided to find a ladder, climbed and began to prune the tree back, all the way to the trunk, leaving only three skinny, bare branches. Then got the hose, a hard bristle brush and some dish detergent and with Sinan’s help as he held the water hose, I began washing and brushing the tree with soap till it was covered all over with suds. I rinsed it thoroughly and sprayed on some mildew killer. All the elderly in the neighborhood told me that my efforts were totally futile, and that the tree would never get better. In spite of their discouragement, I continued to spray regularly and continued to feed its roots. When I started doing all this it was about August. The whole winter had come and gone and spring had arrived, and yet there was no life  on the tree. Every day we checked but there was no change. Nothing yet. One day we were having tea under the Linden trees in the backyard; I looked up and noticed two tiny bumps on one of the branches of the Magnolia tree. We rushed to see it close-up and to our amazement, there it was, the tree had recovered slowly and was giving us a few buds. We were all so happy. Our Magnolia tree returned back to its original self, healthy and alive. So did Sinan. God had given them a new beginning, a second chance. May everything and everyone be blessed this way!

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