they'll grow...

i was back in the garden again today.  teacher appreciation week and mother's day left us with an onslaught of potted plants just waiting to be de-potted.  

i obliged.

i had also picked up a few vegetable plants to begin the veggie garden.  i feel very uncertain about this new undertaking.  although my usual approach to anything is, "how hard could it be?" i don't want to let over-confidence rob us of a successful gardening experience.  usually, grandma fields all my questions but shrugs her answers.  (she's even less sure than i am... and can only relay, with confidence, what she has successfully killed).

today, while we were both out working, grandma suggested i ask our neighbors, mr. and mrs. durham, any questions i might have.  they are both avid gardeners and have lived there as long as grandma has.  i showed mr. durham a few plants and asked which would like the sun,... which would prefer some shade.  his wife joined us - mrs. durham, whose precious mind is slowly giving way to dementia.  she complimented me for taking on a garden... and for taking over grandma's as each year she decides she's less capable of all the up-keep.  she calls me Sissy.  i'm not sure if that's her generic name for me since she can't remember who i really am or if it's a prophetic label due to my obvious lack of gardening confidence.

mrs. durham gestured towards lucy and tucker, commenting on how big they are getting.  amidst references to vegetables and flowers and soil, she expressed her amazement at how much they've grown.  i couldn't help but agree.  four years ago when we moved in, i was only pregnant with tucker, and now, here he was, running through the yard, threatening to throw a golf ball at his sister.   after some instruction on using miracle grow, i thanked her, saying i hoped it would all work and returned to my yard work.

she called out, "leave them in God's hands, Sissy.  They'll grow..."

i pondered this as i returned to my small plot of earth and couldn't help but wonder if she was referring to my plants or the kids...