A tree grows in Winslow

I was just commenting on my need for Spring.....my desire to get in my garden and maybe even do a little composting when the mailman knocked on my door.

Among the packages was a weird note from South Jersey Gas company. Oh boy........what is the problem?

The letter starts with...."perhaps terminating your service will allow you to be as concerned as we are about the issue at your property" ......................what the what? Please read your meter and call us. Oh, I am on it! They do not know who they are sending letters like this to! (disclaimer....I had thrown out a few notes from said Gas Company because they want me to buy insurance from them which I am not interested in) Surely I didn't toss some important note? (right?) Anyhoo......I did what any self respecting, decision making woman would do and instead of grabbing my phone I gave it to the big guy and asked him to call and straighten them out!

2 minutes later I see him go out the front door and in 2 seconds he is calling me! "Nic, I need ya out here!!"

Oh geez........must be big if we have to double team!! Slippers on my feet....out I went! "What is the problem??" Um....welll......this....

Ok, ok.....before I continue, let me just tell you that I am in love with this fat girl right here! Yes I am! I found her at an auction. Yep, an auction. I drove an hour and checked in to get my bid number and then I scoped out what I could use and got ready. I had 2 criteria............that it was alive and that it was CHEAP! I wanted to fill a lot of space and I had very little patience! After grabbing a couple of lots for $15-$20 I figured it was time to go......but this lil Charlie Brown tree kept getting skipped! I snagged her for about $1. She was cheap but had little life at about 24 inches high. She was skinny and scared and she didn't fit in well where ever we put her. My family (read, husband) hated her and one day she was pulled up and set out for recycling. NOT SO FAST! I rescued her again and popped her on the side of the house out of the way.

2 years later I opened my office windows greeted by her wonderful scent. She had made it up to the window sill! She is home to many a chipmunk and even more little birdies. Occasionally she will wiggle a branch into my window to wave hello and remind me she is out there. I love her!! And 2 years more and she has gone on well past the window, the second floor, and well.....covered the Gas Meter. Oh boy!!

SO......back to the present and she is a BEAST! With my husband on the phone I am going in........

Open space above was as good as any....head 1st, hoody up......I pushed and moved and yelled out the meter reading. I could almost feel her laughing at my husband....."remember me? You know the scrawny thing you were gonna toss?" Katy Perry's Roar playing in my head, I started laughing as my husband started planning on her murder. "Gonna have to chop it down, Nic," he warned. I gave him a look of amusement.

She's going nowhere. Perhaps a trim to please the ever so threatening Gas Company. Perhaps a hard pruning....perhaps. As he shook his head in defeat (come on now, he knows he will not win this argument. He couldn't get rid of her when she was a baby....surely can't get rid of her now that she is a force to be reckoned with)  I smiled to myself. This 15 minute crisis had given me just what I was longing for earlier this morning.....a lil bit of Spring and just a touch of my garden. There are no coincidences.....just chances to have your problems solved. Real talk!