Sunday, May 16, 2010

Harvesting Smiles

I admit, I whined somewhat on Saturday when the weather was spectacular, bright and sunny, with a low dew point and mild. It was a gorgeous day and the Harley... remained in the garage. Oh man, would I have loved to have been out riding. But something else took priority.

Besides the non-ending and ever-expanding "honey-do" list at home, I have three older friends who are still living independently, but whose mobility and ability to function are limited. Each have recently given up driving, which was very hard for them to do, but had to be done. They each were gardeners in their day, having lovely gardens around their respective homes. Each of them told me how much they missed seeing annuals out their windows, and looked kinda forlorn and sad.

My partner and I remedied the situation. When we were at the nursery on Saturday, buying the obligatory plants for our own gardens, I turned to my partner with a look that made him cry out, "what's the matter? What's wrong?"

As a tear ran down my face, I explained what Mabel, Iris, and George each had told me, in their own way, about missing flowers in their gardens.

Ever the problem-solver, my partner said, "okay, let's buy a some extra flats of this-and-that." US$100 later, flats of flowers brimming from the back of my truck, we left the nursery and drove right over to my elder buds' homes. We planted the flowers in their gardens all afternoon. It was back-breaking work, as the gardens hadn't been turned over, de-weeded, or otherwise tended in some time. We mixed in some additional "clay-breaker" soil and compost from our yard, then applied mulch, which was free for the taking from a county-provided supply.

The smiles we harvested immediately were worth the effort, and made me feel better. Even though I couldn't go riding, and our own gardens still need to be planted, the days' work could not have been more "worth it."

Life is short: show those you love that you love them.

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