May 30, 2008
Letting Go
Just wanted to take a minute (that is seemingly all that I have) to write. I just returned from Disneyworld with three of my kids and I have been in my garden ever since. I have not even unpacked a bag or washed a load of laundry. My garden has gone from a thing of splendor and pleasure to perhaps, an incurable crop of struggling vegetation. I cannot blame my husband, he watered as I asked, but he did not, understandably, do all “the little things”. Each time I go outside I find my way to the garden and take in its' beauty, pull out its’ weeds and give it a sprinkle; little by little without even noticing, it remains kept. Some days I fill a wheelbarrow with live oak leaves and they find their way under the pepper plants and some days I help the cucumber vines find their way to the trellis and deadhead the lilies; little things that all become a big thing, which is the beauty of the garden. I can’t blame him at all, I should know that time away from my garden in May or June would not produce a desirable outcome. I have hope, however. I will indeed use my grandmother’s chow chow recipe and harvest all of my green tomatoes – this will not be difficult, for they are burdening my vines. Next, I will remove all of the unhealthy stems and vines and fertilize. Yesterday afternoon, with mountains of laundry and stacks of suitcases piled near the door, I was there in the garden harvesting all that I could. I collected white summer squash, canary yellow squash, green peppers and cadmium red peppers, carrots, basil, rosemary, and potatoes. I put it all together with olive oil and spices and put it in the oven. We also had the last of the strawberries and blackberries. It was so delicious after six days of amusement park food. Today I will pick snap beans and dig a few more potatoes for supper. Anyway, I hope that I can save most of my garden; summer would not be summer for me without it.
I read an article from O magazine while on vacation. It was about letting go of things, both physical and emotional, that needlessly use up our time and energy and prevent us from moving on in our lives. This totally impacted me (remember the three cardboard boxes?). I have always wondered why I spend so much of my day fooling with inanimate things instead of growing and discovering and being. The summer of 2008 will be the summer that I let go. While I will never willingly let go of things like my grandmother’s quilt or my mother’s dining room table, I will let go of clothes that clutter our closets, magazines that I do not need to save, a sofa no one sits on, and papers I don’t need. And with my extra time, I will try a new recipe, watch a movie in the middle of a long summer day with my daughter, add more time to my daily walk, sit in my garden and watch for humming birds that might visit and later, watch for the moon and be there in the garden the instant it rises, or write a long letter to a far away friend.
When you look back on your life, it was never about the “things”.
Till next time,
p.s.
p.s. our cat had kittens
No comments:
Post a Comment