Dear Reader:

The benefits and blessings I have gotten… grown from my garden… have more than compensated for the all the labor involved…and it is a labor of love. It is also a labor of intensity, passion, faith, perseverance and patience.

I have been privy seeing the first buds, on all my flowering plants, open and stretch towards the sun. I never tire of watching the beautiful blooms emerge from the buds….it is like watching a baby’s birth over and over.

The garden is everything I dreamed it would be…and more. It has evolved into the private sanctuary of peace I hoped for and desired. The garden is my “go-to” place when I need to mull and/or meditate about issues that involve a talk with God.

My dreams of a garden where the grandchildren can romp and play has reached full fruition, supported by the squeals of splashing in the fountain and jumping on the old oak tree swing. The two older grandchildren run to see how tall their trees are and how much they have grown. They have a personal stake now in the moon gate garden.

Magic. The grandchildren and I feel the magic when a new bud opens and little garden fairies appear on different plants at random.

Every Easter now lollipops grow from special seeds of kindness that the

children plant and then perform…lollipop seeds for kind deeds.  There should always be magic in a garden.

Besides all these blessings, I have discovered, however, that the “fruits” of my labor have produced some unanticipated benefits…involving my character.

The first “fruit” is patience: Nothing in a garden grows as fast as the gardener wishes because Mother Nature is calling the “shots” not us. Everything happens in  its “own good time.”

The second “fruit” is pride. I love to show people around the garden because I am so proud that this dream is a reality and I have, not only stuck with it, but am more in love with my garden today than when it first began.

The third “fruit” is friendship and relationships. I have made new garden friends and kept old friends and family who have helped me stay the course with suggestions, ideas, and free labor, to boot. We share a special bond now…watching our gardens grow.

So until tomorrow….Take a leap of faith…plant a flower, wait for it to bloom, care for it as you would a child, and then believe you will be there to see it grown and your garden a reality.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

*Speaking of the “fruits of labor” I was crossing my front porch yesterday morning and saw someone way up a tall ladder cutting limbs off a dead tree. I thought a professional tree cutter was out there until I looked a second time and it was Vickie, my friend and neighbor.

She had an ax cutting away limbs off a dead tree… and then she went and got the chain saw for the final blow to the tree….promptly cutting it up in smaller branches and hauling it all to the street. In a blink there was nothing left of the tree but a clearing where it once was. “I am woman hear me roar.’ I don’t need security protection on my street…I have Vickie!

*Happy Official Birthday Vikki and Ben! Glad each one of you is a part of our growing family….Life wouldn’t be the same without you!