Hey everybody, I don't post here much. We all know of Coop and the famous Godfather fig cuttings. I have my own story of getting the cuttings. While I don't want to make like my story is more important than anybody else, I didn't want to hijack any of the threads to include mine. If you don't have the time or don't care, feel free to disregard my entire post. I just thought some people might find it interesting.
Last March my wife and I were going away for the weekend to visit some friends of ours. Before we went to bed the night before my wife made me promise how I would put the clothes in the dryer first thing when I got up in the morning. At the time, she was almost five months pregnant and had a hard time sleeping through the night because of the heartburn.
I was also up late reading a book on being a dad and forming a bond with the baby or fetus as soon as possible. A few of the things it mentioned were reading to the baby and playing the baby music while they're still in the womb. Two things I made sure I did. It also said things like taking home the placenta and burying it which I thought was a little weird.
I've always been an early riser so I assured her that as soon as I got up, I would put the clothes in the dryer so we could leave as quickly as possible. I woke up the next morning, made my cup of morning tea and set it down on the table downstairs. It was right next to the picture we have of Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone from the Godfather. I went to quickly check my email before I started my morning reading ritual and I saw my semi-usual email from the forum on the main fig topics over the last week. I glanced through and then I saw it- "Cuttings Of The Tree From The Godfather Movie Available."
I was as interested as Sonny when he asked about Tatalia guaranteeing his investment. My family is huge fans of the Godfather. I've seen each movie at least 40 times, (I used to keep track) We have the Godfather on DVD, VHS, tv versions, and uncut versions. We have quoted the movie countless times. If I could pick one movie that would be the official movie of my family, it's undoubted, The Godfather.
I clicked on the thread to read an amazing story how Coop was able to get a piece of movie history and how he was now making us all an offer we couldn't refuse. My heart started racing, and I sent the money as fast as I could. In my haste, I sent it to the wrong address at first. I was so excited I ran upstairs to tell my wife who just got up. Her first words when she saw me were: "Did you put the clothes in the dryer?" Oops!
After I had put the clothes in the dryer, I explained to my wife and my father the fantastic news! I got the question that did cross my mind. The question that almost everybody I've told has asked. "How do you know that they're really from the Godfather?"
Now, that is a very valid question. Reading Coop's story, there was no doubt in my mind that he believed that the cuttings were from the Godfather. Coop and I live in the same state. A very close friend of the family worked on the set of the Godfather and was actually the one who picked up the horses head and delivered it to the set of the movie. So I know, as a fact, that the movie was made in the area that Coop lives.
I told people that if Coop was trying to screw people out of money why would he sell them so cheap. With what he charged me per cutting, it's less than what I've paid for any other cutting since I started growing fig trees.
Then people would say that the guy Coop got the cuttings from is lying to him. I would ask "Why would he lie?" I'm not sure if he sold any of the cuttings, but if he were an avid fig grower he would have tried to sell them to Coop who'd been looking for them for 20 years. If the guy just wanted help with his fig tree, then Coop is a nice enough guy to go and help him without being told that the tree was from the Godfather.
What I end up telling people is, I have about ten fig trees and these are the only ones with a story behind them.
I couldn't wait to get them! I readily admit I'm a novice at growing fig trees from cuttings, but one thing I've found is that the sooner I get the cuttings in the cup with the dirt, the better the chance I have of it rooting.
The night I got home from work that the cuttings arrived, my wife had a cold. While I always try to be a good husband and attend to my wife when she's sick, my top priority that night was getting these cuttings started.
Coop was more than generous, and all of the cuttings looked great, except one which was a little stick. The runt of the group. I ran out of Dunkin Donuts cups so the little stick I put in a small glass of water and put it on our windowsill in the kitchen. Our kitchen has a bay window over the sink which is ideal for planting.
The next day when I called my Dad during lunch at work, I told him how we got the cuttings in and how one of them is on the windowsill. "This dead twig?" he asked. I said we had four others in the three seasons room and we only needed one of them to start growing.
The weeks went by fast. Having a baby on the way meant there were a ton of things to do. The waiting each day for some growth seemed to breeze by. Then one day, on one of the cuttings I saw that ever so slight green pinpoint. One of the cuttings from our three seasons room started to get a shoot. I breathed a sigh of relief that we knew we were at least getting one tree.
Then a few days later I was washing dishes, and I saw the same green pinpoint on the twig on the windowsill. Wow! The runt of the group was going to be one of the ones that grew. My Dad's eyesight isn't that good, so it took him a few more days to see it. He was amazed like I was that this small twig was turning into something.
Day by day, as my child was growing inside my wife, we were also watching the fig trees grow. The one we were amazed by of course was the twig. I remember the one day coming home from an ultrasound and bringing some pics for my Dad. He seemed more in awe of how this little thing in a glass was growing so well.
It eventually outgrew the glass. I planted it in a pot, and it did great. It wasn't on the windowsill anymore, but I made sure to show my Dad and wife at least once a week it's new growth.
Time to tend to the gardening was getting sparse the closer we got towards my wife giving birth. I kept rereading my fathering books, and when I came across the part about planting the placenta again, I didn't think it was that odd. I thought to myself "It might be kind of cool. A unique bonding experience."
Then it hit me. Why don't I plant a fig tree over it so when my child is older, It can be a special tree for us? They can know it's their tree that has a special meaning to them. I first assumed the tree I would plant would be a fig tree that I brought over from my Dad's old house. It's a rare fig that I'm not even sure what kind it is. I cut off some shoots last year and got a few to grow, and it made sense that would be the one that I would plant.
Then I got another idea. The same fig tree, that was just a twig, that my family watched grow as my child was growing, that is from our official family movie would have to be the one.
I asked the doctor about bringing home the placenta, and he said it was up to the hospital. They said as long as we had a cooler to take it back, it was ok. After the birth of my daughter, my sister-in-law went to the store to find a cooler and brought it to the hospital. We were surprised how insistent they were on having a cooler and they just gave it to us in a paper bag. I brought it home and put it in the refrigerator. I was very busy the next few days. I knew I had to find time to plant this for my daughter because "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."
As I dug the hole, I listened to the songs I played for my daughter while she was in my wife's womb and I planted the tree that we all watched grow from nothing.
Someday, when I explain to her why that's her tree, I'll tell her the story, of the "Godfather fig tree," and a great man named Coop, who kept his friends close but his fig friends closer.