The only fruit tree I recall having had (that actually produced fruit) was an apple tree on the property where I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. I hated that tree. It dropped crates of apples onto the ground where they would start to rot in the summer sun. Guess whose job it was to pick them up?

Yes. Me.  

The only time I didn’t mind the tree so much was when my grandmother would visit from Cincinnati. She would make apple pies, jellies, apple butter… you name it. That part was awesome!

What I can guarantee you that I have never been the caretaker of are citrus trees. Clearly, I have a lot of learning to do.  

We are still riding a huge learning curve having moved to the west coast. The temperatures have been record breakers (like so many places in the world.) We had a series of days where it was hovering around 115 degrees (that’s 46 degrees for you Celsius folks.) You don’t go outside unless you have to in those temperatures. Around the corner of our back yard, we have an orange tree and a lime tree. Well, they got “sunburned.” At least that’s what the expert we called to save them called it. The lime tree was pretty heavy-laden with little limes. The heat, plus not enough water to match the heat, meant that the trees were in severe distress.  

A lot of innocent limes lost their lives that day.  

But not all of them. So, I took it upon myself to unburden the tree of the limes that were burned up. You know… lighten it’s load so that it could spring back up.

What I also don’t know is how to tell a ripe lime from an unripe one. So I very cautiously took one of the good ones off the tree and sliced it open. Squeezed some juice into a cup and tasted it with great trepidation.   

It was amazing.  

What we have sort of learned here is that the citrus you grow yourself is way less bitter. Lee’s boss gave him some Meyer lemons off her trees and I was making lemonade like a vendor at the mall. It was soooo good!

My point here (and I do have one) is that sometimes we can come to expect bitterness from something (or someone) and then come to think that’s normal. But maybe it’s not. Maybe if any given situation or person is given enough attention, love, (and apparently water) what you get can be unexpectedly smooth and lovely.  

We’re learning. We won’t let another great lime catastrophe happen on our watch. Now if only the orange tree would decide to produce more than one orange…

If life is feeling a little bitter to you right now, I have the antidote to that. It’s called the Certified Angelic Advisor Program and it will be happening LIVE in Tampa, FL the end of October. This 4-5 day event (you decide between 4 or 5) is going to be the most joyous, poignant, hilarious, freeing, dance with the angels you’ve ever seen! It will be followed by 6 months of follow up video calls with yours truly until you finish your certification. Those that do, will be listed on my website directory.  

And by the way… no… we’re not streaming this one. It’s going to be a sacred space with just live people. It’s going to be wonderful! You can find out more about it here.

With you on the journey,

~Radleigh