Never Say Never

When we first moved into our house here in Los Angeles,
we had a majestic plum tree that provided lots of shade
in the backyard, and yielded the sweetest plums we had
ever tasted. The squirrels would always carry away the
bulk of the year's plums, and we would scold them as they
scurried away with the plums.


Then one especially windy night, we heard a loud crash.
Hurrying out to the garden, we saw that one of the huge branches
of the plum tree had broken off and fallen onto the
ground.

The next day, we called up a tree specialist who told
us that the plum tree had been chewed into by termites
and that we would have to cut it down.

Heartbroken, we agreed and soon, all that was left
of the beautiful plum tree was a stump on the ground.

I regretted that I'd never kept any of the plum's seeds.

A couple of months later, I noticed some tiny branches
sprouting from the stump of the tree. Excited, I asked
the tree guy if this meant that the tree would grow again.

He replied that it was rare for a tree to resprout from its
stump, but that even if it were to grow into a tree,it would
never ever have fruit again.

We were so sad...

That was in 2001.

Fast forward a week ago. I looked out to the garden
and my gaze landed on the plum tree. Incredulously
there were some round red globes peppered on the branches.
Could it be?


I dashed out to the garden, and took a closer look.
They were plums! Small, but without a doubt, small plum
fruit. I broke one off to try it and even though it wasn't
fully ripe, it hinted of the sweetness to come.




Life, in all its tenacity and glory...
life, rejuvenated in the form of a blossoming plum tree.