With no choice, I had to dismantle it. Telling the kids was heart-wrenching. Oliver asked, “But, Mommy, Dad made it special for us!” Max was furious. We watched as workers took down Daniel’s hard work, feeling like we’d lost him all over again.
We left for my mom’s for a week, hoping the break would help. When we returned, I looked out at the backyard—and couldn’t believe my eyes. Where the treehouse had been, there was now a mini-town: a post office, a tiny schoolhouse, a library, and even a rock cave for Oliver’s dinosaurs.
The kids’ eyes lit up as they explored. Our neighbor, Mr. Wallace, explained with a grin, “Playhouses under six feet are perfectly legal—Mrs. Ramsey missed that detail.” The entire neighborhood had pitched in, each person determined to bring some joy back into our lives.
Now, the community is working to replace Mrs. Ramsey as HOA president. It feels like justice, and though Daniel’s treehouse is gone, his memory lives on in the kindness of our neighbors and in “The Bennet Kids’ New Town,” a sign we proudly placed in our new backyard haven.