Anna and the lemon thieves

This story is from Anna: 

The last time I saw Oma was the summer of 2011, and the last thing she did for me was to give my husband and I a memory to last. Her home butted against a property with a massive, gorgeous, flourishing lemon tree. My husband, Tyler, loves fresh squeezed lemonade had been thinking about this lemon tree during our entire trip. Finally, on the last evening we were there, he inquired about what happened to the lemons. Oma, in a most clear and direct manner, explained that the neighbor had no interest in sharing the lemons and at the end of the season most would fall off the tree and rot. It was obvious that this royally pist her off - I assume because she never wasted food. 

We, however, were welcome to take as many lemons as we wanted, she said. I have rarely seen Oma with this emotion, but there was venom in her words and revenge on her mind. I politely declined, not wanting to stir up any trouble, but my husband jumped at the opportunity. I thought this meant snagging two or three lemons. How wrong I was. I sat back with our 6 month old daughter, Amelia, while Oma and Tyler filled 2 full paper bags to the brim with juicy, plump, lemons. They took turns snatching and bagging a few lemons while the other kept look out. The best part was watching Oma and Tyler's smiling, sneaking, nearly grinch-like faces as they gathered as many lemons as they could.  

They put the bags in our trunk and we drove home towards Salt Lake City, UT, giggling. Both bags made the trip and we enjoyed fresh lemonade for the rest of the summer. 

As a side note, we saved the seeds of several of the lemons and watched them grow into small lemon trees. Walking by them always made me smile and think of Oma. My son, Eli, was born in 2013 and was an early walker. In 2015 after the lemon trees were slowly beginning to develop bark (I think we had 2 remaining), Eli came running up to me squealing with joy after ripping the lemon trees from their pots. He was so happy! I was consumed by rage. Then, I laughed too, because, I'm sure that's what Oma would wanted me to do. 

Here are some pictures of my husband (Tyler) and Oma stealing lemons.  

(photos to come)

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