When we bought our house, there were many exciting things about homeownership.  One of the lesser qualities of our home was the fact that there was a grape vine in the back yard.  A single lonely vine.  Oh the possibilities.
 
Now let me rewind back to much younger days
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Growing up we had a few grape vines in our side yard.  They were trellised up properly and maintained rather well.  Every year they would be luscious and green and produce a large quantity of green grapes.  As the summer would progress however, those green grapes transformed from a high level of potential to a significant disappoitment.  Looking more like a rotting mess and less like juicy grapes, so much so that they were eventually removed from our yard to be replaced with nothing. 
 
Fast forward to college———>
 
During my years at Murray State I had a friend who rented an apartment that had a grape vine in it’s common yard.  Once every few days he would go out and inspect the grapes and hum introspectively.  They were a source of pride for him.  However the vine never really produced any quantity of grapes.  However they were subject to much scrutiny and hope. 
 
Getting older———>
 
In my latter years I began to learn about grape varieties(wow when did I get so boring), their particular soil requirements and their moisture needs.  This is where I began to understand why our grapes were never really producers.  Most grapes like rocky, well drained soil.  They also like moderate climates very unlike the months of July and August in our area.  I guess at some level I had very minor dreams of owning a fruit farm with orchards and berries.  Something that I could spend my latter years cultivating into a self sustaining business. 
 
Getting closer to present———>
 
With this background I was very apprehensive at the potential of this vine in our new back yard to produce any real fruit.  The previous homeowner was my grandmother so I knew there had been some level of production from the vine.  If nothing else maybe my wife and I could enjoy a few clusters of grapes on a hot summer evening.  So begins a 4 year sojourn to fruition.
 
Year 1:
 
We purchased our house at the beginning of July so I knew that I would not be able to do much more than just mow around and keep the weeds out of the vine for the first year.  And I did as such.  As I expected the vine produced no real fruit.  The same result as years past.  A lot of green fruit that shrivels and becomes a raisin before a grape.  As with the beginnings of any relationship, we were in over our head, but committed to making it work.  Purely out of stubborn nature I would force fruit to bear.
 
Year 2:
 
We didn’t do much more what we had done the year before except maybe adding some leaf mulch to the base of the vine.  This wasn’t so much to add any soil amendment, just the hope to eliminate a little bit of the weed removal I would have to work on every week.  Rain was relatively heavy in the spring so the vines produced a lot of fruit that died early on.  I began to wonder if we needed to purchase more vines for pollination and rework the soil to add in some rock that would help it to drain better.  Maybe I should add some fertilizer.  Realistically I was not prepared for the committment that a vine would require.  Maybe we should think about seeing other people.
 
Year 3:
 
Realizing that we would not see any real production from the vine, the neglect really begins here.  Coming home late, unable to defend my whereabouts.  Distance began to creep between us.  It was as if we were strangers in our own yard.  The neglect finally led to a separation.  Towards the beginning of the year the trellis was knocked down.  We piled limbs on top of it with the hopes of burning it down once the ground became wet enough.  I also covered the whole pile with excess limbs.  The summer was really dry so we didn’t get a chance to burn it down.  I also installed a new underground dog collar system.  I ran the lines way to close to the vines so the possibilty to burn the pile was now lost.  It would melt the lines.  As with any good collapsed relationship, we buried it amidst a pile of other rubble.
 
Year 4 (This year):
 
At the beginning of the summer I began to remove the limbs from the top of the vine to transport them to a new burn pile.  As I as removing the rubbish I noticed there were quite a few grapes on the vine this year.  Like any real good ex, this vine was back in my life.  Even with my abandonment of it and inability to committ, the vine trudged ahead.  Living with the hopes of getting back together.  I decided I would let the vine be.  As I debated the consequences of this relationship coming back into my life I wondered what brought about this sudden resurgence in productivity.  Did the vine know it was only minutes away from it’s demise.  Like many of my ex’s, this was it’s last push to maintain some stronghold in my life.  Realistically though, it is laying on the ground, so the fruit should probably rot very early.  Wrong.  Apparently if I do everything that you aren’t supposed to do, my vine will produce.  It was not cared for, and more correctly it was neglected.  Grapes are not supposed to propagate with significant neglect.  However mine have.  I have ripe grapes.  From my own vine.  Now bears the question do I allow this vine to continue it’s greatness or wait until I have harvested anything and remove it as planned?  I think this last ditch effort to remain in my life will ultimatly result in me allowing it to live if only to be able to transplant it at a new location more appropriate to grapes.