I procrastinated too long this week and never got to writing my Fiction Friday… I’m thinking about just taking the rest of the summer off.
So I was visiting some of my favorite blogs and was really inspired by Tamara’s post for this week’s #LOBS. She says “That’s the beauty of a garden and its gardener. Despite the hardships, you grow. You grow anyway. You glow. You glow anyway.”
It’s so true! The metaphors between gardening and life are endless.
I had such high hopes and plans for my garden this year. I envisioned enough fresh veggies that I could avoid buying any at the grocery store. I imagined canning and canning, pickling and canning so that I could avoid buying pickles and diced tomatoes until next year.
And then Mother Nature laughed in my face. Rain, rain, and more rain caused all of my zucchini, squash, kiwi, and cucumber plants to commit suicide. My peach tree produced ONE (although delicious) peach. The pepper plants refuse to produce peppers, and a stupid bunny hopped along and ate all of my sweet potato plants!
The tomatoes, however, are basking in all their glory.
I relate my life to my garden.
Where there has not been enough nurturing, I have failed. Where there has not been good planning, there has been chaos and disorganization. (I didn’t have a good plan, I just planted.)
And sometimes, the stuff that is completely out of our hands just kicks our asses.
But I am thankful because, despite some bumps along the way, the other garden I am nurturing is growing quite well.
TTTS took one of our twins
Janine Huldie says
August 2, 2013 at 10:36 amI linked up with them, too and will be honest not much of a gardener here, so I just put up one of my posts that was one of my better this week. But your tomatoes look amazing and understand about not getting to what you want to sometimes with you blog. Trust me, have been there myself, too!!
Tess says
August 2, 2013 at 10:50 amFound you from LOBS! I’m not a gardener, though I wish I was. I kill all plants for some reason! lol
Tamara says
August 2, 2013 at 10:50 amI gasped at the beauty of the photo. Just…wow. There she is, right next to her siblings, always in spirit. Thank you for referencing my post! I am not much of a gardener over here, but I felt like I had a lot to say about nurture, love and growth.
Alison says
August 2, 2013 at 11:03 amYou’re right, your baby girl is always right there. Lovely, Alexa.
(and yay for the tomatoes!)
Michelle says
August 2, 2013 at 4:35 pmYour baby girl will always be in your heart. Beautifully written, Alexa!
I can relate to the gardening…in the past I have had everything that could go wrong happen with our garden. We only do pots now – tomatoes and basil. Those are my favorites!
Leah Davidson says
August 2, 2013 at 4:45 pmWhat a beautiful picture. I’m sure she is always with you and her siblings.
The Dose of Reality says
August 2, 2013 at 8:16 pmOh, that picture is so lovely. It made me cry because it’s so dear.
(and your scary font with “bunnies ate them” made me giggle!) –Lisa
another jennifer says
August 3, 2013 at 4:05 pmMy garden is doing okay so far. I have tomatoes and peppers starting to grow and I am overwhelmed with basil! Living in a downtown area, I don’t have to worry about bunnies. It is all about nurturing and protecting, isn’t it?
Kristen Daukas says
August 3, 2013 at 10:53 pmI love how you related that 🙂 On the literal gardening side, we have had a horrible growing season thanks to all the rain we’ve had. Oh well… just like the Cubs, there’s alway next year 🙂 Thanks for sharing with us at LOBS!
Lady Jennie says
August 4, 2013 at 3:30 pmI can relate BOTH as a gardener and as a human. 😉
Rachel Cotterill says
August 6, 2013 at 2:27 amWe have some fruit trees, which are doing nicely, but we haven’t got much else growing this year. I planted tomatoes and peppers but I think I was a bit too late!