RIP Ananas Comosus....or....why didn't i pick the dang thing last week?

What a sad, sad day in the JBCoupe household. Three years....three long years of waiting, hoping and dreaming have come to a tragic end. Sometime during the early morning hours, our beloved pineapple plant was accosted....leaving nothing but a rotting corpse for me to find this morning. Needless to say, I was in total shock. I went out and surveyed the scene, not sure what to make of it all.

My eyes welled with tears as I sank to my knees, gently cradling my precious fruit. It's sweet smell still hanging in the air like perfume from the heavens. We sat like that for a while....just "piney", as I had grown accustom to calling him, and I. Cuddled together, we sat and I recalled how I had first heard about planting a pineapple top. The day I planted him in my little pot....and the moment he grew too big and I had to move him to the ground. Holding my sweet, tropical friend, I thought back to the day I saw him sprouting for the first time....the excitement I felt. I held him gently and stroked his lifeless fronds as I thought of the past three years, watching him thrive and grow.  Memories came flooding back....and a single tear ran down my cheek as I thought of the things that would never come. No happy day when I would proudly pick him from the plant. Dreams of pineapple upside down cake and fruit salad ripped away before their time. Gingerly, I laid him down and stood beside him. Offering up a small prayer I said my goodbye.

I know it will take time to get over this. My family will have to go without fruit for a while....I just don't think I can bring myself to walk through the produce aisle. The sight of all those ripe, healthy pineapples would just be too much. Driving past farmer's markets will cause my heart to skip a beat. I'm even dreading hearing the Spongebob theme.

I need to move on....I know. And I will. I just pray they catch the ba***rds who did this. I hope they choke on the sweet nectar that undoubtedly spurted out as they ruthlessly clawed at an innocent fruit. I hope their fur is matted beyond repair and it really, really hurts when they try to comb it out. And I hope that for the rest of their lives, they are haunted by the images of my innocentfriend....lying there, his life slipping away like the fructose draining from his cold body.  I have to believe justice will be served....unlike my piney, who will never have the chance to be served on a silver platter, cut into tropical shapes with a dollop of creme fraiche.

RIP Piney. I will miss you.