My best friend passed away two years ago, I am still grieving. In our society of instant gratification and messy relationships, I had found true love and joy in a four-legged Portuguese Water Dog, that I named Electra. I meet her and her siblings at her home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, where it was love at first sight. The relationship has remained the longest one in my life, surpassing all friendships and all engagements. But now she is gone. I thought long and hard about how I would remember her and decided that she was best memorialize by planting a tree.
The significance of planting a tree is a memory I have as a young girl living on Long Island. We would send money to plant trees in Israel. The trees would be in remembrance of a relative who had passed away and to help the environment by starting a forest. But planting a tree in New York City was another matter entirely.
If the city was going to plant a tree I needed a public space on the sidewalk. I had to find someone, a building owner, who would allow the Parks Department to chop up their sidewalk and then plant a tree. So this became my mission finding a sidewalk space and a friendly building owner.
I live in a wonderful neighborhood named Gramercy Park; it's rich with history, a love of trees and full of dogs. So how could I miss! My first thoughts were of a small stretch of Third Avenue, around the corner from where I live. For some reason there was only one tree at each corner and nothing in-between. So I asked the people who had just move into the neighborhood. They own the building but they were not interested. I went to the next building only to find out that owner was difficult. That left the Natural Frontier Market with the apartments above it. It was there that I struck gold! The building owner, Mr. Demetriou, President of First Management Corp. was willing to allow the city to plant a tree. So after faxing permission slips and writing thank you notes, there was my little tree. It had taken a year to plant but it was worth it.
But with Electra's one-year anniversary coming up and with the desire to protect the tree, I again queried the building owner about placing a protective guard around the tree. He is a generous man, who I never have had the pleasure to meet but he has a place in my heart. Without any hesitation he agreed to help finance the tree guard, he was interested in beautifying the neighborhood. We would both chip in but it was my responsibility to locate an iron fabricator.
In a past life I was probably a terrier, so armed with determination and a very small budget I was on my way. With my task at hand I walked around the neighborhood examining existing tree guards. But I was looking for something unusual.A friend who gave me the name of F & A Iron Works located in the Bronx, was able to complete my mission. It was with their help and expertise that my vision came to life.
Today with the help of all these people I have a wonderful memorial to my friend who is gone but not forgotten. When I walk around the corner to sit or to plant flowers inside the tree pit I am able to share my love for my Electra with the neighbors and the strangers that I meet. People stop, they say, "Thank you for adding something so lovely to our neighborhood." They express their interests, and share their own pet stories. Her memorial adds to beauty to the neighborhood and it helps me heal.