Monday, November 9, 2009

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!

4 comments:

jmac said...

Oh J!!! I'm almost wiping a tear from this ol' eye!!! Cereally. I have a lime tree that is a cutting from a plant that I gave my MIL over 29 yrs ago....and I nurse it and talk to it, just like you've done. And it's thru hell and back too. So I feel your pride in being able to pick that first piece of fruit.....enjoy, my friend. And plz come back with pics of those babies eating their pie from their cherished lemon tree!!! mwah..!

Virginia G said...

And I had tears in my eyes from laughing so damn hard. I had to read this post out loud to my coworkers. We all agreed on a couple of things:

1. The tree should be named "the little lemon tree that could"

2. We all want to eat at least a little bit of a lemon from that tree to see if we can absorb some of its resilient spirit.

WHAT an AWESOME story. And you wrote it beautifully to.

Cassie said...

Girl, only you can tell a story like that. Enjoy that lemon pie, and save one slice of a lemon to go with a shot of tequila for me!

Katy said...

Its the little tree that could! Lost my lemon tree to a freeze and never replaced it, now its time to do just that! Thanks for sharing your sweet and sour story!

Related Posts with Thumbnails