Growing lessons

I'm gazing out my kitchen window watching the down pours. We had tornado watches and gold ball sized hail in surrounding areas. I gaze out my window at the mist of rain and the damage done. I see a few flattened plants, blossoms scattered across the ground and a few branches of the trees scattered about. Having a garden teaches you things. I recommend it to any parent having trouble with a child or someone seeking peace. Sometimes just watching something you make together grow, sometimes a perspective difference and sometimes seeing nature at it's most brutal can teach too. The thing is sitting side by side in the dirt planting seeds or sprouts silence and listening you learn things about yourself about each other. I have memories of sitting beside my grandmother. There is a skill to breaking beans. you wash them and then you break them in half taking the string the fiberous part off. Both of us talking about anything that came to mind sneaking bites of raw beans. We were commenting on the world or the family and really talking. How many times have you had a conversation with your child that you remember? I have remembered these things all my life. My memories are part of me I cherish. Building them with your child is important. Building them with your inner child is important too. Love is not out-dated neither is the ability to sit still and watch the beauty in the world. These are things every child needs and every parent should teach. A quiet moment alone with someone who just loves them teaches you to share. A moment alone to learn you can love yourself. A moment to teach yourself nothing is ever truly destroyed but transformed in to something else. I miss you Mamie. See you in the garden.