The Big Guy

My 14 year old could have been 4 today. 

“There’s snow!  I saw it from the plane!  Dad said he’s going to take us to where there’s snow!”

Coming from a kid who barely blinks at most things I find amazing, this was over the top, quick take his temperature, enthusiasm.     


Imagine his joy for the real stuff!


And I felt so good talking to him today.  He’s on an adventure with just his dad where I won’t be telling him he really ought to be getting into the shower, as in NOW, checking that’s he’s put on sunscreen, or barreling ahead to point out what I think could possibly be poison ivy.  He’ll get blisters, he’ll get sunburned, he’ll reek to high heaven, and he’ll be thousands of miles away from any comment (or worse…suggestions) from me.  Heaven to a teenage boy, I’m sure, and heaven to a mom who’s happily oblivious of his hygienic state.  Ahhhh…..

So why put this in a garden blog?  Well, it’s nature, and it’s wild, which my garden is getting to be these days – partly by choice, but mostly from too much necessary time away from it - more than I care to spend away from it, but life circumstances make it so. 

Speaking of wild.... I wonder if they'll encounter an exuberant Two-headed dog?

And, today I am so grateful for a conversation I had weeks ago.  My husband was about to head out for his yearly yoga retreat and wanted to talk about my mom’s illness.  He asked what I would do if she died while he was away, and offered to not  go if I perceived it to be greatly problematic.  I thought about it, and knew deep down that only one thing was important to me, and that was simply this: people need to live.

Gleanings of his interest early on, as in on the wall, on his desk, in the basket, and on the floor.

So much of what my mother went through indicated to me that being overly cautious, anxious, tentative, etc. stops us from living.  Since he asked, I jumped immediately ahead to the planned father-son Sasquatch seeking trip and said under no circumstances would I want that changed.  My son has been looking forward to it for almost a year, has read enough to earn an honorary doctorate in cryptozoology from Bigfoot U., and has endured my ridicule and sarcasm for months (my favorite delivered with over-abundant guffaws was this beauty:  “Watch you don’t get Sas-squooshed! ”).  Tee-hee!

Man, is he ever going to be mad at me for this.  So freakin' worth it!

So, like in the garden, when I accept as truth all the possible ways something could go wrong, I don’t stretch.  I’ve been told certain things won’t grow here, and I’m sure I’d still believe that if I hadn’t tried.  Forget Brussels sprouts (and really, shouldn’t we all?), but nevertheless, they are growing in my garden even though the garden books suggest it’s way too hot here.  They didn’t take into account the amount of rain we’ve had this year or the cooler spring temps which got the crop going.

So that’s the key…circumstances may be similar from year to year, but they’re always unique.  In my own life, I can think of many times when Plans B, C, or D replaced Plan A.  When my snow-delighted boy was born, I said forget the generic baby books, I want the book for this special one-of-a-kind model.  But alas, there was no book for a work in progress.  Life’s the same…we can’t write it, we need to allow ourselves to be open and to freely live it.