The breath of God swept this tree to fall east – toward the street – and not southeast, which would have been straight into our beloved home.

Yesterday, around 3-4pm, an unusually fierce storm swept through some parts of Cleveland. Working on the west side of Cleveland, I saw claps of lightning and bowling ball sounds of thunder, but I never thought it was categorized under “severe.”

Driving home, I turn into our neighborhood and anxiously drive through the debris. Streets are undriveable with power lines and poles demolished by our signature Shaker Heights trees. Tall and shady, the tree lined streets look like a tornado swept through and not far, the local highschool is scattered with flattened cars and smashed houses.

I turn onto my own street and see a pool of people standing out front. I get even more anxious that I don’t see Nick and neighbors I recognize are the ones I know, so I quickly surmise that something happened in our immediate area.

My mouth drops open as I see one of the largest trees on our block laying flat down on the lawn next to our house (ours is the brown brick, tudor style one). A HUGE tree, one that I’ve admired for the past year, was uprooted and mercifully hit only the earth, taking with it nothing but another strip of a nearby, smaller tree.

The neighbors were out, trying to saw the branches that were blocking the street. I turn into the driveway and quickly hurry into the house to see if Nick is home, alright, and if our house has any damage.

Miracle, miracle, miracle. This tree, that stood about 15 feet from our soon to be nursery decided to die, but without causing any direct damage to any humans or houses.

So, we spent the early evening marveling at the storm’s remnants, talking with our neighbors, helping more ravished properties clean up, and thanking our lucky stars it did not plummet into our house or into anyone causing harm.