Deeeeeeeep thoughts in the garden

I spent a few hours in the garden today. Working in the garden is very therapeutic for me.

One of my best friends has shared with me that they are feeling overwhelmed with life lately. I was thinking about this while I walked out to my big flower garden that has been overwhelmed with weeds due to all of our rain and hot weather. Now, I’m not talking about my beloved Johnny Jump Ups “weeds” …I’m talking about the ugly, prickly, suck-the-life-out-of-everything-else weeds.





I have a feeling that my friend is feeling about the same way that this garden looks. The ugliness of the weeds has taken over the beauty of the little things in their life. It’s a ‘hot mess’ as the cooler people amongst us like to say.





I’ve been feeling a bit out-of-sorts and overwhelmed myself lately. I’ve been thinking of myself as a victim. I hate that feeling. That means I’m putting more importance on the ugly things or mean-spirited people in my life than I should be. I’m not focusing on the beauty in my life and all of the people that are truly important to me.

With every ugly weed I pulled out by the roots, I felt a little more in control. With every bunch of ugliness that I yanked out and flung to the side, I felt less like a victim.

As I continued sweating and pulling and digging out the ugliness, I started once again to notice the beauty in the garden. Given their own space, my flowers are beautiful.

Once my attitude started being adjusted I started enjoying the beauty again and my mind began to wander.

- I noticed how wonderful my catmint smelled when I pulled long blades of quack grass from it. I thought of my friend Donna who gave me a small bunch of it from her garden many years ago.





This cat mint has brought beauty into my garden for probably over 8 years. We don’t live close to each other but the beauty of our friendship is that even if we don’t see each other more than twice a year, we still get together and talk like we saw each other yesterday. We still trust each other to be there.

- I remembered how my friend Peg gave me the bee balm and pink mums a couple of years back. They come back strong every year.



Even though our friendship may have taken a break for a few years for whatever reason, we’re still good friends. I treasure her friendship. Like these pink flowers, she keeps coming back as my friend.

- I saw this little beauty underneath some 3 foot high big bold plants. See it under there?



I didn’t plant this little thing. It just appeared. But I couldn’t ignore its simple, quiet, whispering beauty.



I know a person like this. She is surrounded by bold people that tend to overshadow her. But when you focus on her…and her alone…she has a quiet beauty that runs very deep. I don’t want to gloss over people like that.

- I ran across this flower that is done for the season. He’s kinda ugly right now.




But I won’t pull him up because I trust his beauty will be back at another time. I thought about a relationship with a person that has been tense for a number of years. It too was kinda ugly. But we never ended our relationship. I think maybe we both trusted that the beauty would return. This summer our relationship did take a turn for the better. I will take special care with this relationship so it can bloom again.

- And then I ran into this Mo-Fo...I can say words like that now...both my kids are over 21....heehee.



This guy wouldn’t budge when I was trying to yank him out. He stood tall and proud and I nearly landed on my ass when he finally let loose. I thought about some people that are like this weed in my life. They’re not my friends, they're not my family, I didn’t plant them in my life, they’re just there. I allow them to hurt and upset me. I need to yank this type out of my cares. I can’t let them hide the beauty of the other relationships that I am blessed with. So take THAT ya dumb weed! You don’t qualify to get any more of my attention.

See what I mean by therapeutic? I yank out the unnecessary ugliness and I focus on the beauty.

Sigh….

I feel much better now.