Dear Reader:

Sunday morning, as I was watering the garden and plants around the yard, before leaving for Mt. Pleasant to spend the next three days…I noticed that the two dwarf hydrangeas I planted outside my office window (a few months ago) were just starting to bloom.

You might remember that this was the same side of the house that had leaves piled up by the feet, not inches. Finally I got  the lawn workers to remove all those years and years of leaves which turned into my hydrangea plot of land. It is rich with compost and the two plants look very happy.

Blue or Pink? It looks like from the slight tinge I can see…at least one is going to be a boy…and most likely since the soil is the same…so will its twin. That is fine with me….by the time I get back Wednesday…I should be able to tell the colors of both plants.

I looked up all kinds of theories on the colors and then even an article on how to change the colors from one to another…pink to blue or blue to pink. It gets slightly technical…but basically the color is based on the amount of acidity and pH alkaline in the soil. By adding garden lime to one element or another…the color can be changed.

But would I even want to do that? Personally no. Whatever color these particular hydrangeas turn out to be…they are going to be beautiful! They will bring me such joy …just peeking out my window (while I work on blog posts) and looking down to see the beauty of new life (where once just piles and piles of old dead leaves, twigs, and branches lived) will be reward enough!

It did get me thinking, however, about genetics today and how far scientists and researchers have come. Just recently there was a CBS show on cloning race horses and using new genetics to recreate duplicates with hopefully the same running ability as the original horse. When it comes to man….I have noticed, too often,  greed is always at the center of controversial ploys involving genetics.

I am all for the study of genetics, helping people with genetic diseases and other health problems, providing possible solutions for more people to have a better chance at a life lived in good health.

Today young couples can make the decision to find out the gender of the baby early on in the pregnancy or wait and be surprised (the old fashion way…like we did) at birth. Walsh and Mollie experienced both and all three of their children’s births were equally exciting…life is life is life. We wouldn’t trade any of our beautiful grandchildren for another gender.

However, at the rate we are going….it won’t be that long in the foreseeable future that couples will be able to decide ahead of time what gender they want the baby to be. The only good thing to come out of this is that it might have saved a few heads under Henry VIII’s reign but today…I think not.

For me personally…I have come to the conclusion that God is a far better judge of life than I am. We fickle humans don’t always know what we want or what is best in the long run. The old adage “Be careful what you wish for…it might come true” rings even more true when life-altering decisions are made by us alone.

I would rather leave the decision of the gender of a newborn up to God and definitely leave the exit date of all God’s children up to Him too. I do believe we will not remain one second longer or leave one second sooner than God’s time allotment for us. For that lack of knowledge…I am most thankful!

So until tomorrow…I am quite relieved to leave life’s most important decisions in the Hands of God. He has never steered me, never guided, me wrong yet!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Don’t forget…today is May 1! Say “Rabbit” first thing today and have a wonderful, amazing month ahead. There are few months as beautiful as the one we are getting ready to experience. Live it to the fullest! Happy Maypole Day!