When Life Hands You Lemons

My little lemon tree is a miracle in a pot. Shortly after I brought it home, the stupid dog chewed it down to the roots. I left it sitting on the patio and the kids kept watering it, even though I thought it was a goner. I was so surprised when it started to come back. We nursed it back to health and by the end of last Summer, it was shiny and green, but never produced any lemons.

 I forgot it on the patio during last year's first frost and shortly after that, it lost all it's leaves and began to shrivel and die. For months it was nothing more than a brown stick that I kept meaning to throw out. Last Spring, as I was finally about to get rid of it, I noticed a few green leaves starting to sprout. Again we repotted it, watered it, fertalized it, and nursed it back to health. A few weeks later, I noticed some little lemons starting to appear. We were thrilled! Of course the kids wanted to pick them right away, but I quickly told them if they even thought about touching those lemons, there would be big trouble! They knew I was serious.

We babied our little lemon tree all Spring and Summer and our lemons kept growing and growing. When Fall arrived, so did the rain, and the little lemon tree loved it! It was finally starting to really thrive. I checked the tree everyday waiting for the perfect time to pick the lemons. One morning after a pretty bad storm, I went out to check the tree and it was gone...vanished! I looked and looked and couldn't find it anywhere. I was perplexed and so upset about my little tree. Then I saw it. It was at the bottom of the swimming pool, sitting upright, with most of it's soil still intact and every lemon still attached, even though it had blown across the yard! It was the strangest thing. I fished it out with the big pool rake and quickly rinsed it with some fresh water. I knew the pool chemicals would kill it, but I just had to try to save it one more time. The branches started to droop, the leaves started to curl and I started to cry.

But wait, my little lemon tree had yet another miracle rebirth! It survived the dog, the kids, the freeze, a major storm and even a night a the bottom of a cold swimming pool. After a few days of recovery from the pool incident, it bounced back and continued to grow. Now my little lemons are finally ready to be picked! I can't wait to make a big beautiful lemon pie...I just hope it doesn't taste like chlorine!