My Summer 2009 Labor of Love
Summer brings a lot of nostalgia of the nurturing of plants, flowers, people and even animals I did as a child. Today I remembered what I did summer 2009 and here is what I wrote when summer was almost aver. This summer has been extremely dry but today wa received some much needed showers of blessing!
My labor of love for the summer of 2009 all began with a simple visit to my local farmer’s market in late May with a local male friend I had met online two months prior. I do not usually chat up man online as a rule but I needed someone local to spend the lengthy summer months with, doing out door activities that we both enjoyed. By the way, a purely platonic friendship! Before this particular day we had met only twice in person and both on neutral grounds. We also had several things that brought us together besides companionship that shall be revealed later if I continue to write. I had previously casually mentioned to my new found friend that one of my interests would be to go to a farmers’ market downtown Philadelphia
I picked my friend up from his home around 11 in the morning that Saturday. In my local town I had seen the local farmer’s market many times in the two years since moving and he suggested we go there. I had passed the same market hundreds of times as I did my errands in the area but had never ventured indoors to check it out. This particular day was sunny with a cool breeze and everything was just perfect for outdoor activities. Outside the market, I saw lots of summer flowers, petunias, impatience, daisies, marigolds, and I felt like I was a kid let free in a candy store. I love flowers by nature and flowers always manage to bring unrivaled happiness to my being. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to have them all, but hey, I had personal limitations such as financial ones, of course. I am a working woman. I was running from one stall to the next trying to formulate my pick.
Next we were looking at all the herbs, the mints, the rosemary, parsley, and basil, some of my favorite herbs. No sooner were we inside that I was pushing the huge food cart filled with different tropical fruits that I am used to such as paw-paws, oranges, mangoes, tomatoes, peaches, and all different types of fruit juices I could grab hold of. Initially the store keeper was not really interested in us as we had to literally drag her outside to help us pick all the flower plants and herbs that I needed. I ended up picking the impatience, a couple daisies, and a few herbs. When our flowers were nicely stored in the trunk of my car and some on the back seat we left. I felt like shouting to the world at the top of my voice that I was going to plant flowers on the little balcony of my one bed roomed apartment! I, Rosemary, an adult person was going to have some fun time playing in the dirt.
When we got home we were busy digging out the dirt as Americans would call it but I call it soil because it gives existence to animals, plants, bugs, trees, grass, and all other living things that get their sustenance from the ground and human beings included vegetarians or otherwise. My friend could not believe how animated I was. I spent years as a child working the fields for my food and as such, I have a special relationship with the soil. He soon caught on to the excited mood and like two little kids; we let our younger soul’s surface and enjoyed planting the flowers. Within a short time our plants had found place in the nurturing soil but they looked so pathetic! They looked so small and in need of attention. They were not close together and as such to me it seemed as though they would never be able to draw strength and warmth from each other.
I did not own a hose but luckily, I had my five-gallon trashcan as well as the one-gallon watering can I had picked up from K-Mart. I ran cold tap water into both and balanced the watering can on my head as we began to water my flowers. My friend had never seen anyone balance the water bucket on their heads like that but that had been one of my daily routines growing up in Zimbabwe
I found myself telling my friend that planting the flowers into the ground was like planting the seeds of a good friendship that I hoped would last a long time. It is needless to say that our friendship has been able to withstand the test of time. It is end of summer as I sit down to write this and we still communicate almost on a daily basis. By the time we were done we were really hungry and it was befitting that I prepared a meal and feed my guest. We ended up having some of my traditional Zimbabwean food which we both enjoyed. In the early evening we relaxed on my couch and let me tell you there was something about doing something relaxing with a friend with no strings attached that just made us comfortable with each other and went to sleep on my couch. Later in the night around ten I drove him back home. It hardly felt as though we had been together close to twelve hours! I was happy I had a male friend whose companionship I could just enjoy without any sexual under currents!
The following morning I watered my flowers again and spent hours outside looking at them and thinking whether they were going to thrive. As time went by I would talk to them and they responded to my nurturing as though they were of my own making. I told all my family members and friends about my tiny flower garden. I took pictures of my flowers and I sent those pictures of how the flowers were progressing to friends and family alike. I bet you some might have thought I had lost my mind but I think they had the graciousness not to say anything. I paid attention to my plants every evening I looked forward to coming home and watering and looking at my flourishing flowers. Believe you me or not, daily I noticed a difference in my flowers growth, and that made me smile a lot inside.
Suddenly, I had a reason to come home at the end of a busy and crazy filled workday. Besides I was now happy with myself and I suddenly realized that I had let myself go a little. I had put on a little bit of weight and suddenly I found myself having extra energy to wake up early and walk for 45 minutes before I went to work. Within a couple of months I had lost 12 pounds. Unbelievable what a little hobby like caring for a few summer flowers did to uplift my spirits the way I perceived myself and the world around me and how that brought joy to my lonely life.
I forgot to tell you I am a mother of five grown up children. I can tell you as they were growing up every day they brought out the best of me as a young nurturing mother. I enjoyed bathing, feeding, teaching them how to work at home and study at school. I invested a lot of time and energy in my children, I told them stories, I read to them, I sang to them even though I always sang out of tune, and everyday I noticed a difference in each one of my five children’s development that made my cup run over with happiness. I was also a primary school teacher, therefore, I did not only nurture my own biological children, but I nurtured 40-50 young children annually every day for more than 25 years of my life. Nurturing of both my kids and students brought fulfillment to my married life that was full of tormented emotional and physical turmoil. Nurturing in a way kept me grounded. No wonder in my time of solitude I did what came to me naturally I thought of nurturing. Even though I could not be with my children flowers gave me the tranquility and ecstasy I deserve. In the past couple of years I had almost lost touch with my nurturing side living on my own. Can you believe that all it took were a few tiny flower plants on a tiny one bed roomed balcony to awaken the nurturer I had always been. Well what do they say, once a nurturer always one!
All through the summer I watered my flowers on a daily basis. I ate healthy I exercised. I was a couch potato no more. I felt happier inside and my plants grew to be bushes more than 18 inches tall. They were fighting for light, they were luscious green, they were touching each other, and they were drawing warmth and strength from each other. Unbelievable! One day I brought my friend over after a couple of months and his eyes almost popped out of his eyeballs. He was amazed at the change that had taken place in the flowers development. The flowers were a pretty sight to sore eyes. They were huge, touching each other, drawing strength from one another, all fully blooming with beautiful white, pink, lilac, and red petals. It was a pretty welcome sight; it was magnificent to share these flowers with him. I did more than simply share my beautiful blooms with my friend but other people within my apartment complex as well. I remember one day may residents manager met me in the drive way. He could not stop flattering me about the flowers behind my little apartment balcony. He even told me that I definitely had the proverbial green thumb!
Now summer is at an end and the good weather is coming to a close. My soul is not smiling so much anymore. Instead it hurts but like the saying goes, to every season turn, turn, and turn. Every good thing comes to an end. Summer is over and now it is time for winter and every growing plant that cannot endure the cold winter months must die unless they are protected. Almost every night since the weather began to change I found myself pondering what to do with my blooming flowers. What will happen to my beautiful summer flowers, which made me so happy all season long? I hate to see them just freeze outside and die just like that. This was a relationship of joy, labor, and love as such, how can I now let them go as though they had never been? I had to think of something quickly before my flowers were killed by this cruel, relentlessly cold winter weather. I found myself at Wal-Mart. I do not have a lot of extra cash but I have to continue to nurture and protect my beautiful flowers anyway. I bought these two long pots for plants. I knew the pots would not contain all my flowers but I would transplant as many as I could. I have in the meantime transplanted some of my flowers into them and sadly not all. I hate to see those outside as they are going to freeze in the winter cold. However, the transplanted flowers now grace my apartment window ledge inside my lonely apartment. These flowers brighten my room a hundred times over.
The summer might be over but my labor of love with my flowers still continues. It is being transformed into a winter long labor of love once more. The flowers are now housed indoors and I continue to take care of my beautiful flowers. I am only sad I could not house them all but at least some were saved from the realities of the harsh cruel winter conditions. I, however, intend to continue caring for my beautiful flowers.
This relationship revealed and the development of my flowers revealed something to me. No man can be an island. We need strength and warmth from each other. Do not wait for something to change in your life; you have the capabilities and capacity to make a positive change. I had isolated myself after my diagnosis of my terminal illness but this simple project taught me I did not need to be lonely and endure by myself. I can draw strength from all the people around me. I have to look outside of just myself, and see the bigger picture.
Very inspiring.. We all get caught up in the fast track lives we leave that we forget the finer things in life. Appreciate nature and nature those things God gave u take care of yourself and others.
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