Cowgirl Part 2

My last post about the farm was pretty popular so I started trying to think of more stories that might interest people, and Jeremy said, "Tell them about the tree." To which I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm not so sure that is wise." He thinks it's funny. I am still annoyed after almost ten years. I actually wrote post this over a few years ago and apparently forgot to post it. Oops.

Anyway, in late October of 2014, when I was 4 months pregnant with Sassy Pants, we had a tree beside the house that needed to be cut. Jeremy was "afraid it would hit the house." Personally, I think he just had a vendetta against every tree he deems in his way, but I digress. The tree was about 15 feet from the house, beside the fence, and on the edge of a ditch where water runs down from the hills that is also used as a farm road. I tell you all of that to say this: It was in a tricky, dangerous location. Jeremy's dad and granddad (who I often refer to as Doggett 2 and Doggett 1 respectively) had mentioned getting it cut. Red flags immediately went up in my brain because a phrase like, "It needs to be cut," is like a loaded gun. I never know where and when the trigger will be pulled. Jeremy happened to mention the tree one day, and I told him we should look at it to see what needed to be done. In my mind, this was the best way to convince him it was too dangerous for him to try to fell. We went out and talked about all the possibilities, and decided TOGETHER, it was too dangerous for him to work on. I made him say it more than once. I needed to hear it and have him repeat it for his own sake.

One Friday evening, I came home from work and saw Doggett 2's truck at the house. Jeremy was already home from work and came around the side of the house....limping. I looked around and saw pieces of "the tree" on the ground, a ladder and a chainsaw. I stopped the car, turned off the engine and glare at my husband who was sheepishly smiling as he LIMPED to meet me. I knew before I even asked what had happened. Or so I thought. Upon opening my car door, I immediately asked him what happened. Turns out....his dad had called about wanting them to cut the tree. To which I was told my husband responded, "Let's just not do anything stupid." Here is where I want to declare to all the husbands out there that so much as approaching a tree with a chainsaw that you and your pregnant, hormonal, protective wife have agreed was too dangerous for you to cut is, in fact, something stupid. I am entitled to my opinion. It is STUPID. Anyway...to make a long story short, the gist is my husband climbed up a ladder propped up against the dangerous tree carrying a chainsaw. Something didn't go right and he FELL 15 FEET WITH THE LADDER. Did I mention I was 4 months pregnant at the time? I hope you're connecting the dots here. I saw red and I'm pretty sure steam shot out of my ears. I have never been so mad in my life! Not only did he go against OUR decision, but he got hurt and was now smiling!!!!!!! LIVID. I wasn't mad. I was LIVID.

He convinced me his injuries weren't that bad, and we could continue our plans for the night. We were to meet friends for supper. That night, our sweet friends saw a side of me they've never seen before or since. Apparently, my anger was still oozing from every cell of my body and they could sense it. Who knew? We got home that night and attempted to doctor Jeremy's ankle that was very swollen. The next morning, we were supposed to take the youth from church to a pumpkin patch and corn maze. Something I'd wanted to do for years. Did we have the best time? Nope. Instead, we sent the group with other chaperones while we spent half the day in the emergency orthopedic clinic. Here we discovered Jeremy had a severely sprained ankle and whiplash. WHIPLASH! Monday when we visited the chiropractor we discovered he had displaced every vertebra in his back.

It took 10 years for me to calm down enough to talk about it without raising my blood pressure, and he is still laughing about it. He says, "It's just one of those things that was so bad, you can't help but laugh." I disagree. In the years since the accident, I despised the stump of the tree that was left in the yard. I planted flowers around it one summer just so I wouldn't have to see it. Then, we burned it, dug it up and planted more flowers and veggies. A couple of summers ago I finally got over my hatred for the space the tree used to occupy. Our wonderful neighbors gifted us their above-ground pool, and that space in the yard became my happy place. It only took five years and many, many, many hours of torture to get there.