FMF: Garden

I must admit, garden wasn't the word I was hoping for today, and yet it seems just right after my trip to the doctor with mom today.


She has a new-ish habit of singing/humming to prove to the world that she is not invisible.  To participate in conversations she is no longer able to participate in.  To prove she is "Fine".  "Happy".  "Joyful".  "Not a Care in the World".

She sings at the top of her lungs in the waiting rooms of the doctors these days.  She is nervous.  She knows she should KNOW where she is, but she knows she has no idea.  And she is too proud to ask because she doesn't want anyone to know she doesn't know.

I arm myself with topics before our trips anywhere so I can create a diversion at the drop of a hat.  Today she actually started the conversation by mentioning a beautiful green plant in a beautiful clay pot.

My mom used to be able to grow anything inside.  She would stop at friends or a business, see something she fancied, cut a slice off, wrap it in a kleenex, take it home,  put it in a cup of water on the kitchen windowsill and behold - a new plant was born.  She had the touch.  The proverbial green thumb.  She didn't garden outside, but she made so much beauty inside our home.  She always said the containers of plants in the living room window was her special garden.

I think she was always so busy working and trying to prove she wasn't her mother, that she never got down on hands and knees and dug in the dirt outside.  Like lots of other things - she was going to garden HER way!

By my last visit to see my Grandma Bonita, mom's mom, she had taken over half her yard over for her garden.  Talk about the touch.  Veggies, flowers, grasses and the best rhubarb EVER!  I wanted to talk to mom about that today but those memories are gone for her.  I tried to talk about the plants she grew at our home and she smiled, but she was just being polite.

So we talked about the beautiful green plant in the beautiful clay pot at the doctor's office until it was our turn.   I wonder if I could grow a little rhubarb this year in my garden.......?


This post is part of Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday, in response to the prompt “garden” I wrote for 5 minutes and published without editing, in 5 minute Friday tradition.