I Believe I'm Justified

I know this post is coming right on the heels of a post declaring my desire to hold all of my relationships dear, even the most difficult ones.


I have a disclaimer.


I reserve the right to hold on to one love/hate relationship. 


I feel completely justified in feeling the way I do. Today I'm going to share the sordid details of said relationship with you and you may decide for yourself. Because I'm sure you will agree with me. I'm certain that I am completely justified!


It begins the same way every Spring.

Though I am wary with the lingering memories of last Summer, I once again become wooed by beauty.

I'm one of many drawn in by sweet nothings whispered in the fragrant breeze.

I hesitantly agree to set a lovely table for guests, sheltered by those promising boughs.

I relent and call it beautiful.

I begin to think I may have misjudged.

I wonder how I got so lucky that one was planted in my yard, shading my patio, delighting my guests as they dine shadowed by magnificence.

I continue to delight when petal kisses begin to sprinkle down upon me, creating a carpet of pink underfoot.

I love you crab apple tree!


Though the beauty fades, as beauty does, I remain grateful for the shade on the patio.


I begin to exclaim at the wonder of it all when bright red fruit appears in the place of those once lovely blossoms.


Then it happens. It always happens.


It begins with one small, little crab apple. 


It falls.


I remind myself that no one is perfect. I grin and bear it.


Then one day, in late summer, all of the lovely promises of shelter are revealed for lies as, while blissfully dining under those same, safe, magnificent boughs I am pelted, yes pelted, by crab apples! They are thrown with great precision. They land in food. They create welts on heads. Patio dining becomes unsafe!


I realize all of those petal kisses, all of those fragrant sweet nothings, and invitations to take shelter were, once again, nothing more than a way to lull me into forgetting the truth. The truth that in a few short months my patio would become a crab apple bombing ground that one would enter at their own peril!


I begin to rue the day it was planted in my yard!


Some take longer than others to grasp the change that has occurred. Still drawn in by sweetness that was a falsehood, some, - I shall not name names but I shall show a photo - decide that the fruit is an offering of good will and eat it, becoming sick in the middle of the night, causing a sleepless night for those who must clean up the mess.

Guilty!

How quickly things change from wonderful, beautiful, to the bane of my existence!


No longer will I be able to linger under the shelter of those boughs.


No longer will I be able to sit on my patio to enjoy a meal.


I hate you crab apple tree! 


Yes! I believe I am justified!


Christine