Hurricane Isabel and the Ladybug Tree

It was thirteen years ago today - no electric, no school, and faced with the cleanup from Hurricane Isabel, the strongest, costliest and deadliest storm of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. My daughters were 7 years old; we had a dog, but no goats. This was the wreckage of our sweetgum tree, heavily damaged by gusting winds from what had been a vicious Category 5 storm that wrought devastation all along the eastern United States.

Affecting 60 million people, Isabel caused 3.6 billion dollars in damage, the cancellation of 1500 flights, and massive flooding that left some areas without power for nearly a month. Fifty-one people died. Looking back, our family got off easy - we had electricity back a day later, and this was the worst of the damage. Yet all these years later, I still think about Isabel every September. The sweetgum tree survived, but we lost our ladybugs forever.

Fast forward to today, when the leaves from this tree are my goats' most favorite "self-serve" snack. They troll beneath its shady canopy, devouring each crunchy leaf that falls while carefully avoiding any oak leaves in the mix. And I tell them the story...

For about a decade after we moved here, we were fascinated each autumn by the arrival of thousands, maybe millions of ladybugs who annually blanketed the tree's entire trunk from the ground up. Each year the tiny creatures stayed maybe a week, just being there, then they were gone. With little knowledge about migratory patterns, we wondered - where had they come from, where were they going, was it the same ladybugs year after year who rested on this particular tree? Just like the start of school and the relief of cooler weather, the arrival of the ladybugs was an anticipated family event every fall.

Until Isabel. Expected around the time of the storm, the ladybugs never came. Not that year, not the next, not any year since. (Yes, I still check...) Casualties of the storm, or maybe, hopefully, just blown off course? Do they now frequent another tree miles, or states away? Perhaps in another yard, on another sweetgum tree, two little girls skip to the bus stop each morning and stop to greet the ladybugs.

Eat up, goats. Enjoy each succulent leaf. I may prefer a chocolate milkshake, but I do believe there is something special about the sweetgum tree.