Our Ficus tree goes to the Y

We are to the age that we actually are trying to have fewer things in our lives.

When you get to almost sixty, you realize that you have accumulated many things which might be more useful to others than yourself.

Some things are harder to give away than others.  Fortunately my wife, Glenda, at one time took water aerobics at the Salem YMCA.

She knew they had some Ficus trees around their cool water pool.  She called the YMCA and talked to someone who loved the idea of getting another Ficus tree.

When I told one of my friends the Ficus was going to the Y, he wanted to know what programs a Ficus would use.

Our Ficus does come with some history.  Sometime in the late eighties Apple Computer and our Ficus moved into 1892 Preston White Drive in Reston, Virginia.  The area was not nearly as successful as it is now.  Many even wondered if the Dulles airport was in the wrong place.

Today anyone who has worked in Reston, knows that it has become one of the engines of Virginia's economic success.  Apple Computer has become so successful that they have dropped the word "computer" from their name.

This summer Apple planned a move from Preston White to more suitable digs for such an iconic company.  I think they are headed for Reston's Town Center, but in typical Apple fashion (I worked at Apple for nearly twenty years), the new space didn't get ready before the lease on the old place expired.

Another Apple decision actually got the Ficus to our house.  Around 2001 someone decided that all the plants in Apple's Reston office needed to be changed since we were downsizing the office.  The Ficus was sentenced to death in the trash bin.

It was a beautiful tree so I convinced my son to drive it down to Roanoke in his Tundra pickup.  We wrapped it carefully in an old Apple banner and applied lots of bungee cords.

The Ficus settled into our home and lived happily in the corner.  It became part of the family and even got a few special Christmas decorations,"The Nappy Birds," which the kids thought deserved to be appreciated year round.  It did not have to suffer the indignity of lights.

My wife actually hired someone to prune and re-pot the Ficus after it had been with us a few years.  So it did remarkably well in our home.  I used to enjoy sitting under it in one our easy chairs.  It was a good place to hide.

Still it continued to grow and appeared to own that corner of our living room.

We finally decided it needed a bigger space so we could have some of our space back.

We are happy to have found it a good home.

The Nappy Birds did stay with us, but we know they will eventually have a good home with the kids.