Today I am thankful for a big empty space in my front yard.

11.25.19

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About a year and a half ago a big weed sprung up in my front yard overnight. I pulled it. The next day it was back and twice as big. I’m not sure how that happened, but I swear it did. I pulled it again and that stubborn thing just kept coming back. I pulled it, I sprayed it, and I certainly cursed it – but that weed just wouldn’t go away.

Then, when I left town for a few days I left my weed unattended. I came back and it was no longer a weed – it was a tree. Turns out that it’s some weird hybrid offshoot of a Palo Verde, which are apparently very, VERY hardy in the desert.

So, I embraced the fact that I had a tree. I tried to shape it as it grew, but I failed miserably. I had no idea what I was doing. Plus, it had prickly thorns all over, a defense against any human who dared to come close enough to prune it. My dad (much braver than I and not scared off by the thorns) trimmed it for me when he was out here for a visit, and it looked pretty decent for about a week. But it quickly became so overgrown and so out of control again that it practically required its own address and mailbox. It was an eyesore, to say the least. I’m sure my neighbors whispered about it in the night and shook their heads at my house each time they drove by. How could they not? The tree was seriously so ugly.

So, after a few weeks of hoping it would disappear overnight, I contacted someone through the NextDoor app and asked him for an estimate to trim it. He tried to remain polite as he asked me, “Do you like this tree?” but I could tell he was relieved when I said that I did not. He cut me a really good deal to just take the whole tree out and grind down the stump, which of course I was thrilled to have him do.

Life went merrily along for about 9 months until the saga of the tree began again. Practically overnight, it popped back up out of nowhere and within a week it was 6 feet tall. I’m not foolin’.

But today, Mr. NextDoor Tree Trimmer Guy came and took it out again – free of charge. And he told me he’d come back as many times as it took to make sure it was gone. Praise the Lord!

I’ve never been so glad to see an empty, boring yard as I was when I got home today. And I’d be willing to bet that it made a few of my neighbors’ days as well.