The Reluctant Gardner

Simple Beauty in a Fallen Blossom

SO, today was one of those days were we let The Young Prince talk us into playing chauffeur (and bank).  Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, it all resulted in Dave having to spend much of the day driving around and doing errands and fitting in the Tom and Co. transport, sooo, I felt bad and offered to start on some planting here at the house.

What I had really wanted to do was take a shower. I had worked out earlier, and then was doing house things, laundry, dishes, etc and was feeling a little icky. Then Dave came home with stuff from Costco, and half of a Costco sausage roll - with lots of mustard and peppers - and I sank down on the couch to eat that, promptly dropping bits of mustardy pepper bits down my shirt and on my sweats. Nice. 

Now I REALLY wanted a shower.

But I felt bad for Dave, so I volunteered to at least start planting a few flowers. I really did not want to do this. But, since it was a sweaty dirty task, what better time to do it then when I was hot and sweaty. And he gave me the easy part of just doing the planters on the front steps.

So, there I was, had some music playing on the phone and I decided to deadhead some of the Sweet William that was already in one of the planters. These plants had somehow survived all winter and bloomed again in spring. Lots of dead blossoms though, and they had to go. Then I was going to bust open the sack of potting soil and and start in on the actual planting project.

At some point it occurred to me that I actually didn't hate gardening. Don't get me wrong. I'm not one to dream of seed catalogs and get high on the smell of fresh earth and grow all my own (healthy) vegetables. No, not so much. But I love the results and it seems like I used to have time AND inclination to do this before. 

Oh, I still love beautiful yards. I drool over the images in decorating magazines, and I love bringing flowers indoors, and I really some day would love a cutting garden. But to really get all worked up and do it myself? No. I just don't have the mental energy to make it happen. 

So here I was working with the dirt and flowers and not hating it.

But before long I was not alone. I won't elaborate, but there was a distraction that I really didn't want to indulge in at that moment. I kind of had to though. If I was dark blogging, I'd go into more detail, as it is,  my ramblings here might not make much sense.

OK, so I was indulging this distraction, making conversation, and it was OK. I was not hating it.

So, I'm thinking that I was involved in more than one kind of nurturing. And I thought of this: If you just relax and give in to the situation, sometimes it's not as bad as you thought it might be. You might even even enjoy it a little, and create something new at the same time.

Synchronicity, Gratitude and Beyond

I do believe in synchronicity. In fate. In higher powers. I have seen this poster in Life Alive, a local restaurant. Not only did it make me fall in love with the restaurant even more, but I put this on my list of things to search out. Literally, I took pen and jotted down, "find "How to Build a Community Poster." That notation, along with "get more kitty litter", "call the bank", and "kill viruses on Mike's computer" sat quiet, waiting for action until this morning.

OK, I have not jogged out to my nearest poster store, and I have not ordered it online (yet?) But I have not let the timing of recent events slip by unnoticed - I rejoice in what God is putting in front of me.

Last night Dave and I attended the presentation of Rachel's Challenge at the high school. The program was led by a young man named Luke from Denver, CO. He is a good friend of Craig Scott, who was nearly killed at the Columbine shooting. Craig's sister was Rachel Scott, the very first victim on that horrible day. He also lost two good friends at the hands of the killers.

You can check the site for the particulars, and please do, but the main point of the project is to spread kindness. Young Rachel was a strong believer in reaching out to others, to show that no one needs to be alone, and that it's easier to spread kindness than hate.

This was an overwhelming experience, even with Tom's previews. He had attended the same assembly yesterday, and was not only tremendously impressed with the presentation, he was impressed by his fellow students. "Mom, everyone was SO...quiet."

There are other things coming to my attention that involve the concepts of charity, altruism, kindness, gratitude...it is not just a coincidence.

Speaking of gratitude, one of the cool things that I'm referring to is the site, The Whole 9. I read many great essays on the site, and there was one piece, a write up about the photographer Sebastiao Salgado. The author included one of Salgado's image, a heartbreaking, but beautiful image of a naked boy. A starved naked boy. This boy was standing next to a tree that was as naked and stark as he was. It was done in B&W, and it looked almost like it was set in snow, the sand was that white.

The comments following contained the word gratitude, many were immediately so thankful as they were reminded of their own blessings. That's important.

But what kept haunting me was this thought...

"It can't stop at gratitude."