The Pineapple Experiment

About five years ago, we bought a pineapple and Brad planted the top in a little planter in front of our house. We weren't exactly sure what would happen, but it would at least make a nice little plant. We were not the best gardeners. Everything we attempted to grow was in pots, and we ended up with about 5 green beans, a handful of peppers, a bunch of basil, and one tomato. In fact, the "cute" little caterpillars we saw were actually not caterpillars at all and they ate all our tomato plants. Nonetheless, our little pineapple plant continued to grow. 

From the time we first planted our pineapple we had a baby, moved twice, opened and closed a business, experienced a two-year (ongoing) battle with cancer, and so much more. Through it all, we've just had that little plant sitting on our front porch. And one day, we had a pineapple! I brought Devin home from school sick, and he was feverishly laying on my shoulder when I brought him in the house and he spied it through the front window. He was beyond excited. He came out of his feverish haze long enough to exclaim, "Mom! There's a PINEAPPLE!!" We were all excited our little experiment had worked, and the next day he shared it with our entire family on Marco Polo. 

When we moved, the pineapple plant was the only one we brought to the new house. Between the drive and its shallow roots, it was leaning a little when we got to the house. I had to put it into a new pot, and I wasn't sure it would survive, but I figured we'd give it a try. It didn't seem quite big enough to eat, so I thought I would give it some more time. Then we left for Utah, and I trusted the rain would give it enough water if it would make it. 

The morning we came back from Utah I went out to the front porch for some quiet time. I looked over and the pineapple was gone! Brad had checked on it the night before (which I didn't know) when we got home around 1am. So sometime in the middle of that very night, it was chopped off. What was even more heartbreaking was when Devin announced he was going to check on the pineapple and we had to tell him it was gone. I don't know what happened. I don't understand why someone would take it. I could have given someone money for a pineapple. It was really more about the time we spent, the excitement of m son, and the journey. That was taken away for a pineapple. I don't want to make assumptions. But there was no evidence it was an animal, and the cut was quite clean. 

Ultimately, this post is not about the mystery of the pineapple. It's about what came to mind when I first saw it was gone. As I sat on the porch I looked over at that empty pineapple plant and I thought about the last five years and all that we've been through. I thought about the life we planned for ourselves and our kids. I thought about how we invest in our journey, only to find one day that our plans have been cut down and destroyed. That everything we have worked for is gone. That all the ways we expected things to go changed, and there's no going back. We can't regrow that pineapple. We can't bring back what was taken. And that's just what happens. 

But, we can choose what to do next. I can dwell on the missing pineapple. Or. 

We can plant a new pineapple. Our journey has been beautiful. We learned things during the time we opened and closed our store we could not have learned any other way. It was a journey that was so beautiful. I have learned things about aching, pain, sadness, hidden hard, that I never EVER would have learned if I didn't get cancer. I have been given a chance to be a mom and spend time with my family and live my life because of cancer in ways that I might not have with another illness. Our family has grown and our life has changed in ways that have been so full. 

So, the missing pineapple was an ending. A sad one. That happens, probably more than we want. But, it is also a beginning of the next journey that we invest in, and we get to choose if it's beautiful in the great and the hard. That's what's amazing about life. We always have a choice.