Greenery Shopping

Let me take you back to Saturday...before I got sick. Actually, Saturday's events require a whole different back story.

The neighborhood I grew up in was bought out by the airport about 5 years ago. All homes were bought and leveled. My family saw the left behind landscaping as prized possessions. All this is abandoned, mind you, but if you wanted some plants, you had to go about it in secret fashion because it's against the airport rules. Lisa told me about a time that she dug up a forsythia bush and another time when she took some hostas or something like that. She still has them proudly growing in her yard. You see, my sister is a "Better Homes and Gardens" girl. Not that her home and landscaping are perfect, but she pines for that "look". She was gazing through a Christmas issue when she realized all these beautiful homes had one thing in common....they used FRESH greenery to decorate! This is the kind of thought to me that doesn't spark such excitement, I use fake stuff every year so I don't have to go to any trouble. But I wouldn't call myself a "Better Homes and Garden" girl either. This would be like me saying, "I can have a TV in my kitchen so my carpet will stay clean!"

But anyway, it was a big realization for her. And where do we get such fine greenery? Why our old neighborhood, of course! So she called my mom and they went cutting branches of pines, firs and holly. That day with my mom was a bonding one for them...sharing something she loved to do. She decided she wanted to do it again this year and that my sister, Becky, and I should join them. We've just finished cutting down 5 trees. I wasn't excited about greenery, but I always want to spend time with my mom and sisters.

The morning of our hunt for greenery came and it was rainy and cold. Becky and my mom came to pick me up since I was on the way. We all agreed that cold and rainy wasn't the best weather to cut down branches. Surely we'll do something else, we all agreed. Mom was looking forward to lunch, Becky wanted to go shopping and I was there to document whatever we did. I brought my camera. I didn't care what we did...as long as it was something warm and dry. We call Lisa from the car. We are on. Rain will not deter her from her goal.


The day was fun because of who I was with. We pulled over whenever we saw trees that we liked. We took turns cutting off branches and stuffing them into the back of Lisa's minivan. When we were finished, we went to lunch, and then followed it up with making our arrangements at Lisa's house. It was a day full of laughter and fun. The sad part was that I didn't recognize our yard when we drove by it. How can you with no houses to remind you where you are? Only the streets are left. Someday these streets will be blocked off and we'll no longer be able to cut down those branches. Until then, I think we'll be seeing more greenery runs.