Ask Aunt Foley: Do Trees Go to Heaven

Dear Aunt Foley:  We had a wonderful weeping willow tree in our backyard for years.  All us dogs all the way back to Angel Apollo dug holes under it, lay under it on hot days, treed squirrels in it, and watched our grandparents reaffirm their vows under it.  But it became too large and it’s roots spread out so far that it squashed the sewer line and needed to come down.  Do trees go to Rainbow Bridge?  - Napa Michael

Dear Napa Michael:  Is that the beautiful tree that just popped up by Apollo’s cloud yours?  My gosh what a wonderful tree.  I was sitting with a bunch of my friends under that tree today.  Apollo said he thought it was his favorite tree Weeping Walter and gosh darnit he was right.

The rules of the Bridge are very simple.  If you are loved you come to the Bridge.  And anything can be loved which is why we have so many beautiful flowers and trees here.  Nothing ever dies Napa Michael.  They just come here and wait.

One of the most amazing things to see is when a tree comes to the Bridge.  The land on the immortal side of the Bridge is always growing, because more and more beloved come every day.  But a tree is about the biggest beloved that just appears.  When Weeping Walter arrived Apollo and were lying snuggled up together in the sun when suddenly we were split apart, Apollo travelling east while I went west.  We didn’t know what was happening.  Then there was a big rumbling beneath us and we ran away until the ground started shaking.  Then Weeping Walter just sprung up from the ground fully formed.

All us dogs gathered underneath it, marvelling at it’s beauty.  That’s when Apollo said he thought it was Weeping Walter but I thought it was way too beautiful to be in an ordinary yard.  I figured it came from a palace.  But I should have known it came from a back yard because, the way it stood, I could tell it was a well taken care of family tree.

So Napa Michael Weeping Walter is waiting here for you, and for all your family members, waiting until some day you can all gather underneath it like you did for your grandparents vows, and be a family together again.

Until then Apollo and I will keep that tree good company