Tomatoes….

Belle held the fragile plants, inspecting the roots and timid stems… tomatoes, peppers, eggplant… We took turns sticking our hands into the prepared, tilled Earth… creating a hole to receive the plant (Baker disappeared into the woods all afternoon)….  Belle has decided that the care of the garden will be her responsibility.  Watering… watching over… picking at just the right time.  Tomatoes and Patience….

Gardening…  it’s so similar to parenting… I’m no expert and I’ve not met one yet… but I’ll stand over my meager plants and watch them grow… pull the weeds that I think need removed…. allow a stray rabbit to visit now and again… take daily inventory…. separate invasive undesirables…. peruse the farmers’ almanac in preparation of the coming moon and frost…. 

“I Heart Tomatoes”…. I see this bumpersticker everywhere… I think it cleverly means “I Heart My Children.”  It reads, “I’m headed home so I can watch them ripen”  and “my tomatoes are all that matters to me.” 

The sun has not yet shown herself this morning, but I’m on my porch straining to see down into the garden.  I have big plans for it…. I know that the care put into it will produce a bountiful harvest….. I Love Tomatoes.

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Egersis……

The rain has been falling steadily…. streams fall from the roof… in sheets… sitting behind as though looking outward through a waterfall… a rolling thunderous voice… demanding a receptive soul…..  and finding one….  this symphonic  Sunday morning… as far as I can see…down the rolling hill and across the hardwood flat, beyond the creek.  My eyes are open…. I have been asleep…. despite the fog… the low gray clouds… and the heavy rain… from this vantage point… it has become so clear…. and I can see beyond tomorrow. 

The sky a deeper blue….as clear as a September afternoon… after the storm… my anxious soul… having tasted goodness.. happiness… the reserved wine.  Tomorrow’s blessings have unfolded before me…unfurled like a tender fern under a warm April sky… hearing my name… the thunderous voice.  Lessons from the creek… continuous flow… the pull of the earth… not allowing the current to change directions…  and learning to walk away from that which I may have wanted.. and in another direction… simply pulled by gravity and freedom… faith and peace…

Over my shoulder… it seems I’ve learned so little… and yet so very much… but enough… just enough to keep my eyes toward another sunrise in anticipation of what may come… but swift water still rushes past… like maneuvering the canoe through rock and bend…  Watching the rain fall, I know the sun will reappear….soon… I simply have to keep dry til her rays break through the thick clouds.  But Now… “Now” is where I am…. “Now” is the space I inhabitat…the air I breathe…. the warmth I feel…. and I’ve discovered peace in the midst of chaos… direction in a foggy lowland…. a promise that some memories fade…become obscure….others are forever branded on my soul.  But I refuse to become enslaved to a distant yesterday….nor an hostile tomorrow….  I have set a course…standing at the helm… watching the dark sky burst with stars.  A strong current may pull this vessel towards an ominous storm….  But my children sleep below… below rough waves.. close enough to hear the wind and rain outside… I can’t let them endure another storm… I cannot anchor here…. Not here….