Woman brought to tears by kind act after sentimental cubby destroyed in freak storm
Bec Brewin, from Melbourne, was horrified to find a large tree limb had come crashing down in her front yard, destroying the children's playhouse below.
Pulling into her driveway with her two young children in the backseat, Melbourne mum Bec Brewin was horrified to discover a freak storm had sent a large tree crashing down, shattering a sentimental cubby house nestled below.
“It was not the last straw, but on top of my grief it was a pretty crappy feeling to be honest,” she told Yahoo News on Monday.
The white playhouse, with pink trimming, had been purchased by her mum, Tessa Speller, a couple of years earlier for her grandson Woody to play in when he visited. Tragically, she was never able to fulfil her plans of “revamping it” and died suddenly from a heart attack just days before Christmas.
In January, Bec and her heartbroken relatives moved it into her backyard so her son, now three, and daughter Dot, one, could continue to use it — but weeks later it was splintered across the grass under a heavy tree limb.
“It was like my eyes didn’t understand what they were seeing because the top half of a very large tree was just completely in our front yard,” the 35-year-old mum of two said, describing the moment as a “bit of a sting”.
“We’re just so lucky it didn’t hit the house and it didn’t hit any people or any dogs or neighbours or anything like that, so in terms of where it landed, it was the best possible location. But it unfortunately crushed the fence and the gorgeous little cubby house so that was a bit upsetting.”
Friends repair beloved cubby house
Shocked, Bec took photos of the tree limb spread across their property and their crumpled fence and sent them to her husband and their close mates, Rob and Claire, who live nearby.
Handy with woodwork, Rob generously offered to come collect the cubby and try to piece it back together.
“To be honest, I thought that maybe it looked from the photos like he could repair it, but I knew that it was going to be really hard. So I was I was like, ‘Hey, of course, come and get it. That would be amazing’, but I wasn’t sure.”
Although it would have probably been easier to just build a new playhouse, the Melbourne mum said her friends recognised how “sentimental and special” the item was so they embarked on “the world’s worst jigsaw puzzle”.
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Heartfelt detail added to cubby
Incredibly, the couple were able to “paste it back together” with the addition of some new bits of wood. And to top it off they engraved a heartfelt message inside. “Woody & Dot, I love you forever. Gammie Tess,” it reads.
The cubby was returned about a month after the storm, and just in time for Woody’s birthday.
“My son kept saying ‘The tree fell on my cubby, the tree fell on my cubby’, and then he was just so excited to see it come back,” Bec said of the emotional reunion.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes and I don’t think he could either. It was just so special and something that I’ll never forget."
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