I’m not an environmentalist by any stretch. What I am is an angry homeowner who, after losing my favorite tree during hurricane XX, wants some form of compensation. Namely, a new tree.
Forget the cleanup costs. I want a comparable-sized tree back next to my deck where one used to be. That’s all. No more, no less. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.
Travelers Insurance disagrees. Actually, everyone I’ve spoken to disagrees.
Julie, my agent at McCormick and Sons, told me she’d never heard of such a thing. “Good try, though,” she said. I think she thought I was joking.
“Please stop calling the insurance company,” my mother said, “I have a policy there, too.” She knew I wasn’t joking.
Even the environmental teacher at school laughed at me. “You have to be kidding,” she said. “No one’s going to pay you for a replacement tree.” Then she started talking about some kind of endangered shrub and wandered off.
The tree itself was a Silver Maple. At least that’s what the guy who cut it into manageable chunks for me said it was. I always thought of it as a mighty Oak.
We had our ups and downs, me and this tree. It had those little green helicopter things (definitely not its best feature) and I was always sweeping them away. But it also had thick, shiny leaves that covered the deck perfectly on a hot summer’s day. This was a tree with a purpose.
Either way, it’s firewood now. And I want someone to pay.
The craziest thing is that my insurance policy would have paid for all three of the sheds in my backyard had they been damaged. Three sheds that I never even use, and they would pay for that?
But nothing for a tree that I enjoyed every day?
Something’s wrong here. My inalienable rights feel violated.
What about my mental anguish?
I’ll never forget the day of the hurricane. There I was, standing in my kitchen admiring my tree when, suddenly, it was gone. The horrible ripping sound still keeps me up at night. I hear it over and over, like someone’s tearing a giant rutabaga from my brain.
Maybe I need therapy. That way, I could get a therapists note and try billing my health insurance for the cost of a new tree.
Even better, sunlight’s bad for you, right? And trees give you shade from the sun.
See where I’m going with this?
That is a swamp maple. You can't even buy them in nursery's here because they are banned. They are an invasive plant. But it was a good try with the insurance company. But insurance companies today don't want to pay for anything. We really insure for major loss. Anything else is on us!
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