Labor of Love

This time of year I can't help but dream of my garden. This will be my fourth garden since I started the hobby about ten years ago. My first garden was given to me.  I was teaching at an elementary school when a parent offered starts for my new place. My garden beds were empty besides three lonely rose bushes. This sweet woman set a time for me to come over to her home to pick some plants out. As I drove down the street, I slowed down past this house that had no yard. It was entirely a garden filled with beautiful plants. I was in such shock that I forgot to look for the house number and realized I had past it. So, I turned my vehicle around and it was then I noticed that the house I was gawking at was her house! I got out of the car amazed at how beautiful the garden was. When I was welcomed in the home, I got to sit with her and her two daughters for a little while. Then, we went outside with a shovel. I knew nothing about flowers, plants, or dirt for that matter. ;) But, she didn't even offer the shovel. She just put her gloves on and went around talking non-stop about each plant and everything about it. She told me its name, what its needs were, and what color it would be when in bloom. Everything she told me was filed away or slipped out of my memory when she began to tell me that her whole garden was given to her. I asked her how that was possible. 

Then she told me her story. "I am not suppose to be alive today." I was shocked. She continued to tell me of this rare disease that she had. "I was given six months to live. I didn't want to die. I wanted to see my children grow up..." She told me that she had this rose bush in her yard that had never bloomed. She just wanted to see it bloom before she died. In the meantime friends and family members began to give her roses and other plants on her doorstep. "I would open my door and there would be another plant. So, I began putting them in the garden." That late spring, the rose bush bloomed and she was still alive.  The doctors are amazed at her health. She was healed. "I live everyday as a gift from God. I am so thankful that I get to spend it with my girls." I saw her gratefulness in how she spoke to her children and to those around her. She was always kind and cheerful with a humble spirit. 

While she talked she just kept on digging. The pile of plants just kept getting bigger and bigger. When we loaded my Chevy Cavalier, it was packed to the brim. There were stems sticking out my windows. As I planted my first garden, I was determined to keep these plants alive. I had to. If I kept this garden alive, then, it was like keeping this woman's story alive too. 

That was the beginning. I began to love gardening and it was because of this story. It helped me realize that everything that was put into the ground and then bloomed was a gift from God. Every flower that was a gift from another gardener survived in this garden, whereas anything I purchased from a store didn't. 

I miss that garden. It was a labor of love. This year, in our new home, I plan on beginning again. Even though I only have a few plants from that first garden the memory of why I started gardening in the first place is very much alive!