"The breeze up there smelled like sunshine and wild grass. I couldn’t stop breathing it in. It was the sweetest smell I’ve ever known. And the view was absolutely beautiful, I could just sit up there for hours, looking out at the world - you could see everything." - Juli Baker
world. Even as a child she would climb it with her brothers and swing from the branches.
"The breeze up there smelled like sunshine and wild grass. I couldn’t stop breathing it in." Juli explained. "It was the sweetest smell I’ve ever known."
"And the view was absolutely beautiful," Juli continued. "I could just sit up there for hours, looking out at the world. You could see everything from up there."
A few hours later, Steven Baker (her father) was assisted up to branch in which she was sitting, and persuaded her to come down.
“No view is worth my daughter’s life.” Steven said.
Shortly after, the tree was cut down.
“I must’ve cried for two weeks straight” said Juli.
However, Steven knew how much this tree meant to his daughter, and he painted her a portrait of the sycamore so that she could always remember what it felt like to be up there.
Juli now rides her bike to school – rather than taking the school bus – to avoid seeing the stump of what used to be the “world’s most magnificent sycamore tree”.
Above: Juli enjoying the view from the tree.
Middle: Juli's dad gives her the painting of the sycamore.
Below: the tree stump, after the tree was chopped down.
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