I have never cultivated the art of having a green thumb. One of the many many areas where I didn’t follow in my parents’ footsteps (mostly because all the times they wanted to teach me about gardening, I was more interested in reading almost anything I could get my hands on).
In fact, whenever anyone asks me for help in the gardening department at work, I send for someone else; because I fear that my complete and total lack of knowledge would lead to utterly disastrous results. It’s embarrassing really, because I truly adore flowers but have never developed the passion and the knack for cultivating them.
So, since Amras and I have been married, our little garden outside our patio has sat shamefully untended and woe-begon, under the very weak excuse that we were never home to enjoy it anyway. Well, that excuse is gone now, and – with not an undue amount of hesitation – I finally decided that it really was time to do something about it. I purchased a box of mixed ‘pollinator garden’ bulbs from the previous mentioned garden section, and today we actually set about getting them into the dirt.
I remember a long time ago my Mum told me that when it was my garden I would understand. I’m not going to say it was a lightbulb moment and that I’ve suddenly turned into some kind of a plant charmer – I have no idea if the bulbs will even take root (no way to know that until next spring), but I will say, that when I was out there pulling out the last of the weeds and getting my hands dirty putting hopeful life into the ground…I started to get it. And I started to think…just how symbolic that act really was. Roots. Putting down roots.
Amras and my life has changed tremendously in the last few months. It may be that we never completely recover from what happened to us, there may always be little lingering shadows around the edges of our memory…but just like flowers slumber all winter only to persistently bloom again…we can work through that.
We can…at long…long last…put down our roots.
I think I’ll plant tulips next…
And maybe start a tomato plant.
Yes. I think I’ll do that.