Some Things Just Take Time

Our family has suffered quite a bit of loss this spring.  Between the fog of grief that obscures the view of the outside world, and the mountain of tasks, both physical and legal, that comes with putting an end to someone’s existence on our planet, we have had little time for “normal”.  You know, like mowing the lawn.  And making a dinner beyond heating refried beans in the microwave to throw on a tortilla.

We finally cleared a few monstrous hurdles last week, and to celebrate our return to normal we decided to dig in the dirt!   Finding ourselves in late-May without a single bloom in our flower pots, Ella and I were determined to bring some new life to our sunny deck that becomes our living room in the summer months.

Ella has always been the champion of the under-dog.  When she was tiny she would rescue mosquitoes and flies from spiderwebs (and then, of course, feel terribly guilty that the spider would be hungry).  After a rain storm we would all walk the neighborhood and save hundreds of earthworms that had been flooded out of their earthen homes and stranded on the pavement.  I know I started the worm-saving tradition, but it is a job that Ella takes very seriously, often chasing a Robin away from a fat, writhing earthworm then tossing the slippery fellow into the bushes for safety.

This devotion to the weak and vulnerable carries over to Ella’s gardening.  Well, gardening is an overstatement as we merely fill pots and containers on our deck with pretty flowering plants and tomato-bearing greenery.  So when we head to the plant nursery we pass up the colorful displays of bloom-laden plants and healthy green starters.  We stroll past the rows of bright petunias, tall geraniums and delicate ground cover and head to the racks way in the back marked CLEARANCE.

I am the sort of shopper that always has to check the bargain racks before paying full price for anything.  But once I brought Ella with me to the nursery and she discovered the botanical version of The Island of Misfit Toys, she was hooked.  While I’m looking for a "score", say a plant thats blooms have faded but the rest is healthy with potential for a season full of color, Ella is looking for the sorriest, most pathetic looking green being (sometimes not so green) that no one, ever, would take home.  THAT is the plant she wants to save - the one that nobody else wants.

She showed me a couple of wilted, and even somewhat crispy, plants that I was convinced were a waste of a whole dollar.  She pointed to a spot of green on one that would be the start of its come-back to life and I let her place it in our cart.  The other had no such bright spot, but I also could not say no to this pathetic little fella.  She found a half-dozen bougainvillea and insisted we needed one more to keep our

The Pathetic Poppy

existing fussy plant company.  I gave in and she inspected each to find the ugliest, most pitiful in the bunch.  She did.

So we loaded our cart with my nearly good-looking rows of flower starts and her hopeful little misfits and checked out at the store register.  One fellow shopper commented that they’d better give us Ella’s chosen poppy plant for free, because it has no hope.  They DIDN’T give it for free, but we’ll show ‘em - that plant may be the prettiest one on the porch soon.  Maybe.

We plopped all of our new plant residents into their pots and Ella carefully watered her under-dog projects.  Now only time will tell.  Today we may not have a gorgeous floral display around us as we sip our tea and watch the birds, but in time we will enjoy every little bloom and will celebrate any life that appears in Ella’s pots.  And they will be worth the wait. Some things just take time.

We kept the tag for this one so we'll know what it is supposed to look like!