I Am A Gardener - Hope Springs Eternal

There is nothing like "Mother Nature" to remind you that there are bigger forces at play in life than our meager attempts to control our destiny.  Since my mother's emergency surgery in mid-November and throughout the month of December my focus has shifted and most of my energy has been spent either taking actions regarding my mother's care and convalescence or "thinking" about my mother's care and convalescence.  I research, I plot, I write to-do lists, I make phone calls. And meanwhile, much of the rest of my life sits on "pause." waiting for me to come back to it.

This morning was a glorious Southern California morning.  The pink sunrise greeted me from the east-facing living room window when I went to turn on the coffee and as the day progressed the sun shone over everything.  The air was crisp and clean and I ventured out into my very neglected winter garden.  In October I planted typical green veggies:  lettuce, spinach, peas, fava beans, swiss chard and once planted, I have not ventured out at all to nurture!  So I looked about at all the green that was flourishing!  Not only were most of the seeds I had planted doing well, but there were some other surprises that I did not even instigated!  I have a huge crop of cilantro filling one bed,

Volunteer cilantro

Parsley in another, plants that seeded themselves. 

Volunteer parsley

My snow peas have covered the chicken wire trellis

Snow peas

and the tops of my carrots were waving in the breeze, beckoning to be picked. 

Carrot tops!

The only casualty in the garden was the fava bean.  I must have planted about 30 seeds yet only about 7 were standing tall...all the others victims of the hordes of crows that have invaded our neighborhood this past year

Surviving fava beans

 I think they sit on the wires above our yard cackling with glee as I naively plant. 

This is what I brought into my kitchen.

Today's bounty: snow peas and carrots

In addition to the peas and carrots, I also brought in my lesson for the day.  There are bigger forces at play in life.  Life will unfold...seeds will sprout, plants will grow, situations will sort themselves out. Sometimes, even though you do not act, a problem will be resolved; and sometimes despite your best efforts, things will turn out differently than what you planned.  So what is my role in all of this?  To just keep putting one foot in front of the other, giving life my best effort but leaving room for the bigger forces...while trying to trust that it will all unfold.  There is nothing like a garden to instill a sense of hope!