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Description
1-30-2020
Every fig has a story and I want to share the story of the Antiqua fig. In order to do this story justice I feel compelled to start from the beginning. On July 8, 2017 I began my journey into figs. At the time I had no idea that being addicted to collecting figs was worse than being addicted to crack.
What follows is a sad but true story. It has many twists and turns but is all true. I want to share this story as I am dealing with the grief of the death of my fiancée Claudia Annel Parades Veliz. To leave anything out would make for an incomplete story.
So on July 19, 2017 I received my first purchase of figs. I have them recorded as "yellow fig tree cuttings" from none other than one of the names off our scammers list of fig sellers from E-Bay. Fast forward from that date until October 10, 2018 when Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane near Mexico Beach, Florida.
Where was I? I was in Belmopan, Belize undergoing treatment for uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes. I was in the "Purge" phase and was too sick to travel. I was to spend the entire month of October undergoing treatment but had to return early. On October 15, 2018 I returned home. I was still weak from the "Purge" but felt the need to come home to survey the damage.
I live on a small farm of 5 acres in Geneva County, Alabama. My farm looked like the debris field from a plane crash. I lost everything. Seven greenhouses and over 900 varieties (yes you read the correctly) of fig trees had been destroyed. I was so devastated that I could not start clean up for 6 months. That ended my quest and thirst for collecting fig trees. I stopped going to this forum and shut down my FigBid account. I was done or so I thought.
In August of 2016 my wife and I divorced: she left me for the yardman. I had not dated nor did I want to start dating anyone because I still suffered from the pain of the divorce. I immersed myself in work and my fig hobby. But as I mentioned that all changed on October 10, 2018.
I have always dated in the traditional manner and met the people I dated in the traditional manner. I have always liked Latino women but there are not any available in South Alabama. A friend of mine suggested International Cupid, so I gave it a try. I was over whelmed by the number of women blowing my account up.I was actually in the process of shutting down my account when I got a message from Annel. Seems that she was in the process of doing the same when she ran across my profile. That date was January 7, 2019.
We immediately hit it off and I visited her for the first time in February 2019 and we fell in love. On April 21, 2019 I visited her for Easter. She took me to the City of Antiqua. They have a beautiful Easter celebration every year. While visiting I saw these large purple figs that had an elongated neck. I started to inquire as to the name and variety of the fig. I was told that this was the famous "Antigua" fig. The mother tree was somewhere in the mountains near Antigua and was brought there by Catholic Monks. The tree is 600 years old. Finding this tree is like finding Santa Claus. Everybody had heard of it but no one has ever seen it. Due to the trees age and the historical significance it is hidden from people in order to protect it.
Well that was a bummer of a dead end. I am the type of person that once I start pursuing a project I do not give up. Come to find out there are many nurseries there in Antigua. We started searching and finally found a nursery that had 4 small trees. I had Annel ask questions to the nursery owner to find out the origin of the trees. Turns out these were "Antigua" fig trees.
I purchased one tree as I knew that there was no way that I could take the tree home. Annel and I repotted the fig tree and she took it home to her apartment. Since I spoke to Annel everyday I would ask about "our" tree and she would show me the tree through the phone as we faced timed.
Fast forward to December. Annel had started a new job and was having some medical issues with her stomach. We were unable to see each other at Christmas due to her schedule and me getting my children for a week at Christmas. I did ask her to marry me and she said yes and we picked out her ring, via face time of course. I last talked to Annel on January 16, 2020 the night before her being admitted to the hospital. She had surgery the next day for a perforation in the large intestine. I stayed in touch with her 13 year old daughter Luisa during this time but felt that the family were not telling Luisa everything. On Friday the 24th I asked her about her mother and she said she was doing better but had undergone a second operation. I knew at that moment that something was wrong.
The next day I was running some errands with my children when I got the news Annel had passed. My two children Angibeth 10, and Baylen 7 had never seen me cry. I was devastated. For reasons only known to God, her family buried her the next day (26th). I talked to her Aunt and Uncle that live in California to find out more information. In the course of the conversation they asked me if there was anything from her apartment that I wanted. Of course I told them no, but that the fig tree was special to Annel and me. I requested that they plant the tree somewhere nice and that when I visited her gravesite I would like to see our tree.
End of story right? Well not exactly. On Monday (27th) things just seem to get worse as the ring I had ordered Annel came in. Yeah the day after she was buried.
So that brings us to today. I get home from work and there is a package for me in the mail. I open it to find 3 fig cuttings. and a note. Annel's Aunt and Uncle had sent me a very nice letter that I will just keep to myself. But the fig cuttings are off their fig tree in California. When they moved from Guatemala to California they brought with them cuttings that they had personally taken off the "Antigua" fig tree. The tree is indeed over 600 years old and thought to be sacred since fig trees and olive trees are the only ones mentioned in the Bible. They now nothing of my love for fig trees nor do they know of my loss back in 2018 when Hurricane Michael destroyed my collection.
I am going to root the cuttings and will call my trees the "Antigua Annel" fig tree in honor of Claudia Annel Parades Veliz.
What follows is a sad but true story. It has many twists and turns but is all true. I want to share this story as I am dealing with the grief of the death of my fiancée Claudia Annel Parades Veliz. To leave anything out would make for an incomplete story.
So on July 19, 2017 I received my first purchase of figs. I have them recorded as "yellow fig tree cuttings" from none other than one of the names off our scammers list of fig sellers from E-Bay. Fast forward from that date until October 10, 2018 when Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane near Mexico Beach, Florida.
Where was I? I was in Belmopan, Belize undergoing treatment for uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes. I was in the "Purge" phase and was too sick to travel. I was to spend the entire month of October undergoing treatment but had to return early. On October 15, 2018 I returned home. I was still weak from the "Purge" but felt the need to come home to survey the damage.
I live on a small farm of 5 acres in Geneva County, Alabama. My farm looked like the debris field from a plane crash. I lost everything. Seven greenhouses and over 900 varieties (yes you read the correctly) of fig trees had been destroyed. I was so devastated that I could not start clean up for 6 months. That ended my quest and thirst for collecting fig trees. I stopped going to this forum and shut down my FigBid account. I was done or so I thought.
In August of 2016 my wife and I divorced: she left me for the yardman. I had not dated nor did I want to start dating anyone because I still suffered from the pain of the divorce. I immersed myself in work and my fig hobby. But as I mentioned that all changed on October 10, 2018.
I have always dated in the traditional manner and met the people I dated in the traditional manner. I have always liked Latino women but there are not any available in South Alabama. A friend of mine suggested International Cupid, so I gave it a try. I was over whelmed by the number of women blowing my account up.I was actually in the process of shutting down my account when I got a message from Annel. Seems that she was in the process of doing the same when she ran across my profile. That date was January 7, 2019.
We immediately hit it off and I visited her for the first time in February 2019 and we fell in love. On April 21, 2019 I visited her for Easter. She took me to the City of Antiqua. They have a beautiful Easter celebration every year. While visiting I saw these large purple figs that had an elongated neck. I started to inquire as to the name and variety of the fig. I was told that this was the famous "Antigua" fig. The mother tree was somewhere in the mountains near Antigua and was brought there by Catholic Monks. The tree is 600 years old. Finding this tree is like finding Santa Claus. Everybody had heard of it but no one has ever seen it. Due to the trees age and the historical significance it is hidden from people in order to protect it.
Well that was a bummer of a dead end. I am the type of person that once I start pursuing a project I do not give up. Come to find out there are many nurseries there in Antigua. We started searching and finally found a nursery that had 4 small trees. I had Annel ask questions to the nursery owner to find out the origin of the trees. Turns out these were "Antigua" fig trees.
I purchased one tree as I knew that there was no way that I could take the tree home. Annel and I repotted the fig tree and she took it home to her apartment. Since I spoke to Annel everyday I would ask about "our" tree and she would show me the tree through the phone as we faced timed.
Fast forward to December. Annel had started a new job and was having some medical issues with her stomach. We were unable to see each other at Christmas due to her schedule and me getting my children for a week at Christmas. I did ask her to marry me and she said yes and we picked out her ring, via face time of course. I last talked to Annel on January 16, 2020 the night before her being admitted to the hospital. She had surgery the next day for a perforation in the large intestine. I stayed in touch with her 13 year old daughter Luisa during this time but felt that the family were not telling Luisa everything. On Friday the 24th I asked her about her mother and she said she was doing better but had undergone a second operation. I knew at that moment that something was wrong.
The next day I was running some errands with my children when I got the news Annel had passed. My two children Angibeth 10, and Baylen 7 had never seen me cry. I was devastated. For reasons only known to God, her family buried her the next day (26th). I talked to her Aunt and Uncle that live in California to find out more information. In the course of the conversation they asked me if there was anything from her apartment that I wanted. Of course I told them no, but that the fig tree was special to Annel and me. I requested that they plant the tree somewhere nice and that when I visited her gravesite I would like to see our tree.
End of story right? Well not exactly. On Monday (27th) things just seem to get worse as the ring I had ordered Annel came in. Yeah the day after she was buried.
So that brings us to today. I get home from work and there is a package for me in the mail. I open it to find 3 fig cuttings. and a note. Annel's Aunt and Uncle had sent me a very nice letter that I will just keep to myself. But the fig cuttings are off their fig tree in California. When they moved from Guatemala to California they brought with them cuttings that they had personally taken off the "Antigua" fig tree. The tree is indeed over 600 years old and thought to be sacred since fig trees and olive trees are the only ones mentioned in the Bible. They now nothing of my love for fig trees nor do they know of my loss back in 2018 when Hurricane Michael destroyed my collection.
I am going to root the cuttings and will call my trees the "Antigua Annel" fig tree in honor of Claudia Annel Parades Veliz.
Claudia Annel Parades Veliz
Image provided by Allan (Shawnee Prophet ).
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