If you’ve been following me for awhile, you might remember a post I wrote about planting a Magnolia tree in our yard. If not, I can link back to it and you can read it, because having a blog about the last eight years of your life is super handy like that. Please keep in mind, it was a sponsored blog post for Land’s End which is why I keep oddly calling out what clothes we were wearing in an otherwise regular type story. One day, I will have to explain all the product shout-outs to my kids when they are reading about their baby milestones.
Ohmygod, Harlow went to the potty today all by herself! Thanks Pampers Easy Ups!
Not exactly the type of details my mom listed in my baby book.
Anyway, back to the tree…
Because it was Earth Day (and because Land’s End was supporting Earth Day, insert cheesy smile emoji), we took the kids to a local nursery to pick a tree to plant in our yard at the summer house. Mazzy picked out a Magnolia tree, because it was 2015 and that was the era she was obsessed with all things pink.
The tree was supposed to symbolize planting roots at our new house. At least, that was the concept for the blog post I pitched. I actually remember when we got word that they had signed off on our idea.
I think this means I actually have to plant a tree now.
Anyway, the tree Mazzy selected was a baby, with a few scrawny branches and buds. Sponsored or not sponsored, it was going to grow up with my kids, and one day far off in the future, it was going to rain down pink petals all over our yard.
I remember it being a really happy day. The kids got really into planting the tree, Mike was really into having them help with the yard work, we all felt like we had really accomplished something beautiful together as a family and most importantly, everyone liked their clothes.
The post got a really great response. I think everyone could tell how meaningful the day ended up being to our family. Collectively, we were all super excited for what that tree would become. What our family would become. What our new life at the summer house would look like, and all the things I would write about and share with you guys in the future.
Then, a year later, in a sad turn of events, a deer had it’s way with our tree (apparently, deer rub against trees when they are in mating season as a way to relieve sexual frustration) and turned our baby into a tiny stub of a thing with no branches or leaves whatsoever. It was a pitiful little stub, having never grown into anything in its short life, with a single twig jutting upward.
I know I write about pretty much everything, but needless to say, I did not write a post about the deer masturbation event. It was too sad and sordid to share. It was a story even sadder than The Giving Tree (if that’s possible), because you couldn’t even sit on it and it had never given us anything. I didn’t even take a picture because I did not want to document the death of my hopes and dreams. Sponsored or not, that tree really meant something to me.
Our poor little stump stayed a poor little stump that sat in our yard for the next three years.
Earlier this year, I told Mike, we should dig it up and plant something new. But after going out into the yard to look at it, he reported that the twig part had started to sprout a few leaves and maybe, just maybe, it was starting to grow again. I had my doubts, but Mike decided to put up some fencing around it, just in case.
We haven’t been out at the house much this year because we’ve been doing some work on the exterior and it’s been pretty uninhabitable. We finally went out there in mid-May and LO AND BEHOLD, our broken-down stub is not a stub any longer!!!!
It’s still small (way shorter than when we first planted it) but it’s covered in beautiful magnolia flowers!
Our Magnolia tree has risen. Our roots have proven that they cannot be fucked with. Literally. Our fencing says— stay away, you sexually aggressive deer and relieve your frustrations somewhere else!
Pink petals might rain down on our yard one day after all.
Land’s End would be so proud.
We just moved to a new house and the yard is barren (in the process of growing in grass on the recently seeded empty yard). I am so excited to pick out a beautiful pink or purple flowering tree to rain down on my yard. Especially if by the point it grows there I can afford for someone else to do the yard clean up for me.
Your last paragraph is everything! Lands End would be so proud!
I remember when you planted that tree! So glad it’s still chugging along. When we moved to my new house when I was 6 we did the same thing, for about 6 years it seemed like our little stick would never grow. Now 20 years later that big fat pine tree still makes my entire family laugh and reminisce 🙂
Oh I totally remember that first post too. One of the reasons ive read your blog all these years is even when you had sponsored content you wrote well and seemingly made really good family memories still. It felt like you were picky enough with the control you maintained. Just wanted to mention it because you really have a gift for pulling me in with your writing and I don’t realize it’s sponsored until you call out all of your clothes with links lol. Hope you keep blogging for years to come!
That’s so exciting!!! I do not have a green thumb and can rarely get anything to grow, with or without the “help” of deer.
When I was a kid, we had planted a tree that was “mine” – given to me by my uncle. The first winter, it looked dead and my parents were convinced it was. I believed that all it needed was “a little water and a lot of love”. Now almost 30 years later, it is still growing strong!
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