But then the tree house was not designed for beauty, or enjoyment, or whimsy. It was a tool. Its purpose was to block the construction of an oil pipeline slated to run along that narrow tract of land. This tool functioned only so long as a person was inside it; otherwise, pipeline workers would swoop in and quickly demolish it. However, no single person could stay up in the tree indefinitely. So, once every few days, a new “tree-sitter” would arrive to swap in for the previous one, in a rotating roster. I was one such tree-sitter.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter