we couldntve destroyed it all

when scarlett was here last saturday we ran some errands. when we climbed out of the car at home we stood wordlessly in the yard for a minute, each of us letting our eyes trail up the low sprawling pecan tree in front of the house. she walked over and tentatively grabbed one of the think vines that swung in a loop from high in the tree, it was heavy and strong and held her weight as she tested it, then climbed to sit in its arc. i grabbed hold of what i could reach above my head. some of them were just as sturdy, some thinner ones broke at my touch. still silent, we both started climbing the tree and testing each vine, pulling them out and to the ground when we could untwine them from the top of the tree with a few successive yanks. finally acknowledging the task we had set ourselves to, i asked if scarlett wanted a pair of gloves. we were in the tree for probably 45 minutes, eventually enlisting the help of long-handled cutters in an effort to free the choking tree's limbs. we tried not to panic later when our arms stung and itched and stayed red around all the scratches we had gotten. but after a couple of hours, generous benadryl cream, and the anxious watching of each others forearms, our skin gradually recovered.

when i dug around in the yard the next day, tilling up ground to plant corn, i ran into more of the vines. they weren't just in the trees - they covered the ground in a dense network of finger-thick roots and vines, stubbornly refusing to unearth when pulled. after hacking it to bits and pulling it out, i worried that my work would be in vain. this stuff grew so fast and covered everything so indiscriminately, nothing i tried to grow would survive.

then a couple of days later buds appeared all over the vines. every 6 inches or so, clusters of fuzzy brown-turning green buds. by the next day, they had bloomed. wisteria!

i still dont know if it will take back over the plot i've tried to reserve for squash and corn and peppers, but at least its pretty. and if for only a few weeks, it smells so wonderful that its absolutely all i ever want to inhale. and at least it wasn't poison ivy.