Tree
Walking outside to the car earlier this evening, my Mom called me over to look at the tree that we planted in front of the house when we moved in, abt twenty yrs ago.
"Here, Miri, see these leaves? Where they grew in?"
"Yes?"
"See, even where they grew in, they're dying."
"Thank you for that cheery piece of news."
"Look, there's more." (pointing.) "This tree's toast."
I know snippy non-chalance is my Mom's particular method of dealing with things that frustrate or depress her. But still, need she be quite so flip right in front of the tree itself? I mean, deny a thing of hope, and what's it got left to live for, right? This tree has been slowly dying in front of us a little more every spring for years. But it's still kickin', at least for the time being. I for one see no reason to drag it down even further with unneccessary negativity.
"Here, Miri, see these leaves? Where they grew in?"
"Yes?"
"See, even where they grew in, they're dying."
"Thank you for that cheery piece of news."
"Look, there's more." (pointing.) "This tree's toast."
I know snippy non-chalance is my Mom's particular method of dealing with things that frustrate or depress her. But still, need she be quite so flip right in front of the tree itself? I mean, deny a thing of hope, and what's it got left to live for, right? This tree has been slowly dying in front of us a little more every spring for years. But it's still kickin', at least for the time being. I for one see no reason to drag it down even further with unneccessary negativity.
posted by Miri at 8:37 PM
5 Comments:
Is it your position that the tree understood the words or the mood of your mother's proclamation? Because I doubt that it would understand an idiom such as "___ is toast," when it probably has no direct experience with toast itself.
I'm sure the tree is long familiar with my mother's moods and expressions, and probably understood the sentiment, rather than the exact wordage. I agree with Krak that toast is in general a good thing, and everyone should have more direct experiences with it. the indirect ones tend to be messy and involve much crumbs, usually in one's hair.
you've gotten toast in your hair before? indirectly, no less!
Well, what was indirect about it was that nobody actually flung the toast into her hair. It got there through a complicated chain reaction that involved zinging off of the walls and ceiling and ricocheting off spoons and so forth.
It was my finest hour.
BTW- I love the way I comment just to say ridiculous things.
back at ya kid. and hello? YOUR finest hr? I think there were one or two other ppl involved in the situation(wink wink, mysterious man in the purple suit.)
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