Tragedy

Do I have a post entitled "Tragey" yet? If I do, it wasn't as bad as this.

We came home from a wonderful holiday weekend to a terrible thing. I hopped out of the car to help unload. I happened to look over at my precious apple tree and saw the carnage that lay beneath it and burst into tears. We have lost about half of our glorious tree and I literally feel sick whenever I see or think about it.

The really nasty part is that I might have prevented it. We had someone come give us an estimate to get it pruned (maintenance that has not been done to the old girl for probably a decade). The guy said it was too late this year and that I ought to prop up two limbs that were a concern until it could be attended to this winter. I told him I would and I went on my merry way. Chicken coop, giving birth, BYU class, sleep deprivation, sick kids... Excuses, excuses. I completely forgot. We left this weekend with apples ripening and a wonky sprinkler head that I hadn't gotten to spraying too high into the tree. Apparently it was too much for the old girl. I feel awful, like I'd been told to help my ailing Great Aunt Ruth whose leg needed a brace. I didn't do it because I was too busy, and now it has been amputated. Poor Ruthie.

I overheard a neighbor comment on it and Jacob say, "Yeah, my mom was pretty upset about it. She started crying. I mean, we couldn't really see too many tears, but when she's sad the tip of her nose turns BRIGHT red, and my dad kept hugging her and telling her to let it out until she started to laugh." The kids have been having a heyday making forts and swords until we can round up a chain saw and haul Ruthie's leg away.