Tiny tree lends strength to mother, son

LYNN – On a sheet of bedrock, perched precariously on the edge of a hill in Lynn Woods, stands a tiny tree that grows in the most unlikely of places.The spindly white pine sprouted about two decades ago out of a crack in a boulder. Today it stands alone on the windy edge of what is known as Echo Rock, a symbol to Lynn resident Ellen Buck and her son of survival beyond the odds.”It just doesn’t make sense, but she’s here,” Woods said on a recent chilly morning in Lynn Woods.Several years ago, Buck has been diagnosed with a rare and fatal lung disease known as lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM. She’s been in and out of hospitals, on and off pain medication, and given only months to live.Like the tree she and her son love so much she, too, is defying logistical odds of who or what should live or should die.”I always come over, hang onto him and say a prayer,” Buck said, her crutches set aside on Echo Rock as she limped up to the tree’s base to finger its needles. “It does parallel my life.”She and her son found the tree 17 years ago on one of their regular hikes through the woods. Her then-3-year-old son was fascinated by the foot-tall tree alive despite a lack of soil and easy access to nutrients.Her son named the tree Mearleen, and it became an extended part of the Buck family. The two ate picnics next it, said their prayers under its thin branches and decorated it during the holiday season with silver beads and sparkling ornaments.Even after becoming sick, Buck and her son, now 21 and in college, never miss a holiday season decorating it (except for one year when Buck was in the hospital and her friends told her a total stranger had dressed it up for Christmas).She said that over the years, more strangers have taken part in honoring the tree. One holiday season, someone laid out a Nativity scene at its base; others surreptitiously place their own ornaments on its branches.The tree has taken on an aura of angelic proportions beyond the Buck family, with people swearing by its healing powers, she said.”They believe it cured them of so many things. And maybe it has. Who knows? They gave me six months in 2008 and I’m still here,” Buck said.Regular Lynn Woods walker Ron LeBlanc, who passes by the tree with his dog, Benji, said he enjoys seeing the tiny tree aglow with decorations.”It certainly brings the Christmas spirit in the woods,” he said.And Lynn Woods Park Ranger Dan Small said Buck’s care for the tree is but one example of people imprinting on the woods they love so much.”She felt a connection for the tree, and she feels like it’s hers,” he said.Buck said it’s possible she and the tree are truly connected – emotionally, physically, spiritually.”I think if the tree goes, that will be when ? ” she trailed off. “She’s just given us so much pleasure and hope. She’s beautiful.”Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].