Under The Watchful Tree
The Oak Tree Remembers: A Chiddicks Family Story Through the Eyes of the Village Oak Tree
After sharing my recent story Touching History, I was deeply moved by a comment from
that sparked a beautiful new idea and one that’s stayed with me ever since. The idea was simple, yet powerful: what if a family’s life story was told through the eyes of a witness? No, not a person, but something rooted, something timeless. What if the narrator was The Village Oak Tree?That image of the towering Oak standing in quiet observation, season after season, generation after generation stayed with me. I imagined the oak as a silent observer, standing tall on the edge of a field or near the village green, its branches stretched wide like arms holding memories. Year after year, season after season, it has watched life unfold beneath it. Children have played under its shade, lovers have carved initials into its bark, and generations have passed with the tree bearing silent witness to it all.
In this imagined telling, life unfolds with all its raw honesty. The seasons come and go, and with them, the rhythms of daily life, filled with both struggle and beauty. Life in the village was never easy. It was marked by hard work, heartbreak, loss, and uncertainty. But it was also shaped by deep resilience, enduring love, and shared moments of laughter. Families pulled together, finding comfort in each other and in the simple things; stories by the fire, a hot cup of tea, a smile on a weary face. Quietly ‘The Oak Tree’ watches it all, taking it all in, constant, quiet, and enduring.
In the story to come, I hope to explore not just the passing of time, but the soul of a place, as captured through the eyes of the one constant, ‘The Oak Tree’.
That is beautiful.
I've always wondered what kind of stories those trees could tell. I think that would be a great constant in an everchanging universe. I really like the idea of initials carved on the tree. Great storytelling, Paul.