Before Hurricane Irma came our way Gateway started to chop down many trees—mainly those near or against building and/or elevators—and I hated to see them go but as long as they didn’t touch the Avocado tree I wasn’t saying anything.

The Avocado tree made it through Irma without losing a branch or even a leaf so I still don’t understand why it was chopped down a few days after the storm ended. I don’t know if the Lemon tree was cut down before or after Irma but that was one of my favorites.

When I first moved into Gateway there were fruit trees all over the place. I remember picking grapefruits outside my apartment when I lived in building F. After I moved to building D it seemed almost immediately the Avocado tree started to fill up with green bulbs. Just 2-3 years ago we got about 75 beautiful, delicious Avocados and I am sure we would have gotten a new crop this or next year.

The Lime tree blossomed every year and I would check them every day and watch the process of blooms turning into real limes—hey I’m a city boy!—and I would always pick a few and use them on and in different foods, salads, veggies and liquids.

(My mistake--it was a lime tree!)

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