So I tried posting this on AITA and it got deleted, so I was hoping I could come on over here and have a little AITA with all of you. Please help a man out.
So my wife and I live in a little house together that my business bought. It’s a little old and run down, but it’s a free house, and the only money we have to put into it is renovation. Well one of the biggest problems is this tree in the back yard- I don’t know what kind it is, but my wife is obsessed with it. She loves sitting by it and reading, and I’ve even heard her talking to it and singing. I’ve found strips of cloth tied to the branches and little bowls with fruit and stuff around it, too. My wife gets bashful whenever I find something and bring it up, but I’m 100% sure it’s her doing it.
Unfortunately, I discovered the tree was growing into our septic tank last year. When I dug down to see how bad the damage was, I saw it had made a big crack (you can imagine how that smelled) and was even growing into the waterline from the well. I knew the tree had to go, since it was going to be thousands of dollars of repair or replacement work, and we just don’t have the budget for that.
My wife wouldn’t have it. When I told her (remorsefully) that her tree would have to come down, she acted like I suggested drowning our dog. Even when I explained the trouble the tree was causing, she said she didn’t care. There was no way I was cutting down that tree, and that was final.
Well, come this spring, we started having black woody particles drifting in our water through the tap and toilet, and I knew it was time. The tree had to go. I didn’t say anything to my wife, I waited until she had a day out to spend with her sister, and I cut it down. The bastard drew blood from me, too, since it had thorns.
When my wife came home, she just stared at the stump of the tree and cried and cried. This only made me feel worse, since I was only doing this for her health and mine.
But that was the end of it until that night after we’d gone to bed. I woke up at some ungodly hour, maybe 3 o clock, and saw my wife sitting up in bed. Thinking she was just having a bad dream, I told her it was okay, but she just shushed me and told me to listen. At first I couldn’t hear anything but the air conditioner, but then I could hear someone talking outside. Since summer is the season of transients, I grabbed my pistol and ran out to go chase them off.
Our dog isn’t mean- she’s a golden retriever and she likes meeting people, so she barks to get their attention. But she was leaning against the door so hard she fell inside when I opened it and nearly tripped me. There was a stench like you wouldn’t believe on the back porch, as if she’d found the crack in the septic tank and rolled in it, mixed with rotting flesh. She was so scared she went and hid behind the couch and wouldn’t go back out.
Since then, the dog refuses to go out and night and shakes even when I take her out to the bathroom.
My wife blames this all on me and says if I hadn’t cut down the tree, none of this would be happening. AITA here?