leyla grace: Our Apricot Tree...

We have an apricot tree in our backyard. When I moved in with Mike, he told me that ever since he planted that tree, it never really bore fruit. Well, that was a challenge if I ever heard one! I'm not one to just "take someone's word for it"... So, every January I'd go out there equipped with my shovel {and my stubborn nature, of course} to aerate and fertilize the heck out of the soil around that tree... Spring would come and I'd wait to see promising little buds form on those bare branches... and sure enough some of those buds would then bloom into beautiful pinkish white blossoms. Imagine my disappointment when most of those lovely little flowers would fall to the ground with literally no "fruits of my labor" to be seen. Every once in while there would be one lone apricot... I usually felt sorry for the solitary little guy and wouldn't eat it. "Oh, la douler!" I didn't get it! I read every gardening book, every gardening website that exists on the good old world wide web... To tell you the truth, I almost gave up... ALMOST...

So years went by... Every spring I'd wait for apricots and they'd never come... Mike and I got a dog, went to Europe, got engaged, got married, got ANOTHER dog, had a baby... Whew! The seasons came and went... Last spring was hectic. I was in full planning-mode for Leyla's first birthday... We were just getting used to being parents of a mobile little girl. I vaguely remember noticing that our tree was looking unusually lush... full of blossoms and glossy green leaves. On sunny weekends we like to open up our sliding glass door... As I opened it one weekend, I did a double take... I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw tons of tiny little baby apricots practically dripping off of those branches!!! I remember calling out, "MIKE! Mike, you have to come see this!" He came running from our bedroom... probably expecting to see Leyla performing a circus act or maybe a pig flying through the sky, judging from the urgency in my voice. Last year was the first time ever that we got to enjoy delicious apricots from our tree that were literally YEARS in the making.

I guess in a way I'm writing this particular blog entry as encouragement for myself... and as a lesson for Leyla to learn in the future. Life has a funny way of surprising you... you might not see it just yet... but if you're patient and willing to work through the "cold winter months"... there may be something deliciously beautiful in the making...

Speaking of delicious... There's nothing more fun {or appetizing} than watching your child enjoy a meal. Leyla thoroughly enjoyed her grilled cheese sandwich at Ruby's last weekend... I love to watch her fill her little chipmunk cheeks and the way her lips pucker up when she chews. Too cute...