The Little Stump That Could

 On August 13^th 2004 at about 9:15 in the evening hurricane Charley barreled through central Florida at 105 miles per hour.  The next morning the sky was clear blue and the sound in the air was of birds and chain saws.   Some people were left homeless, all were without power and forced to deal with the massive amounts of debris and downed trees across every street, yard and intersection. Our clean-up was typical.  We were please to see 3 of our 4 orange trees had made it through the storm, tattered but still standing.  One of them, however, had been turned into a twisted stump. 

Many chain saw entrepreneur that showed-up in the ensuing months offered to take out the remains of our orange tree. Mostly out of laziness, we refused. It’s been 3 ½ years since Charley and the stump has sprouted several limbs. I have yet to see any orange blossoms on it, but each year there’s been a good amount of new growth.
WELL…yesterday Matthew was in the yard inspecting the trees and looking for a ripe orange for breakfast. Would you believe the “little stump that could” had an orange. One single orange, ripe and waiting for us to enjoy it. We thanked the tree and ate its orange. What makes this story extra special and wonderful is that that one single orange was amazing! By far the best tasting orange of the season! I am so proud of our little tree.  I’m awed by the single-mindedness of nature to grow.