Sara loved Ava – of that there was no question. But what she was willing to do for Ava was being called into question currently. Here she was following her girlfriend around a tree farm looking for the perfect Christmas tree to put up in the apartment. When Ava had first mentioned wanting to decorate a tree for Christmas, Sara assumed she meant an artificial one.
That was not what Ava had wanted which is why instead of spending some quiet alone time together, they were trudging around what amounted to a man-made forest.
What Sara couldn't figure out was why Ava was being so insistent about it.
They had already considered about half a dozen trees, all of which Ava vetoed because she said they weren't unique enough. She wanted one that was special, she said for their first Christmas together as a couple.
Frankly, Sara saw nothing wrong with any of the trees they had looked at to far.
Right now, Ava was walking around another tree which in Sara's mind looked no different than ones they had already seen.
"What do you think?" Ava asked as she continued to examine the side of the tree.
"I think it looks fine," Sara replied.
"You've said that about everyone."
"Probably because they all look about the same to me," Sara said.
Ava stopped her circling and continued to consider the tree. "You're right, this one really is no different."
If Sara had known that her comment would lead to another half an hour of searching, she probably would have lied.
Growing up, her family always had a Christmas tree they would all decorate together, but her parents never put them through the ritual of finding a live tree. Having gone through this, she could easily understand why.
It was cold, and it had rained (no snow) recently so the ground was wet and very muddy in some spots. But finally, Ava found her unique tree.
And the smile on Ava's face made her feel like this was worth all the time they put into it. Still, Ava asked her what she thought and again Sara told the truth.
"It's nice," she said. "But does it look a little lopsided over there on the left."
"It is," Ava said, still smiling. "That's why it is perfect. I mean look around us. All these trees in these nice orderly, even rows and you could stand back and see they are all the same, like someone came through and trimmed them all to make them perfect. But not this one."
Sara considered what Ava said and she began to understand. All of these trees were basically clones of each other. But not this one, Ava had said, and she was right. This one was unique.
"The more I look at it, it really is perfect," Sara said, taking Ava's hand in hers.