Are there any gardening luv-ahs in the haaaa-ouse?! Okay, so, the kiddos and I planted a little garden in the backyard much later in the year than the back of the seed packet said to plant (gasp!). What do THEY know? (hee hee) My husband made nice rows for us; we dug our tiny holes, carefully placed our seeds, covered them with dirt, watered them and…crossed our fingers.
It turns out that ¼ inch holes and 3 inch holes aren’t REALLY the same when it comes to certain seeds. Some seeds are picky that way. So, some took and some didn’t. Actually, the only plants that have come up so far are the squash plants and frankly, I don’t even really like squash all that much. Poo! It looks like sowing our garden seeds will require a bit more attention next time.
Of course, I’m thinking that sowing seeds in a garden is much like sowing seeds in our children. There couldn’t be a better time to talk “sowing” than this week before Mother’s Day. But first, I must throw in another humorous top ten “Momma Taught Me” list:
Top Ten Seeds Planted by Moms:
1) APPRECIATION OF A JOB WELL DONE: “If you’re going to beat each other up, do it outside. I just finished cleaning this house!”
2) FINANCES: “Turn off the light! Don’t let the water run! We aren’t made of money!”
3) ENVY: “There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do!”
4) FAMILY ROOTS: “Shut that door behind you. You weren’t born in a barn!”
5) HUMOR: “If you don’t wear shoes and that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me!”
6) METEOROLOGY: “A tornado just went through your room. Look at this mess!”
7) LOGIC: “Stop jumping on the bed! If you fall and break your leg, you are NOT going to the store with me!”
8) HOW TO (not) BECOME AN ADULT: “If you don’t eat your veggies, you will NEVER grow up!”
9) BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: “Stop acting like a hyena!”
10) JUSTICE: “I hope you have kids one day who act just like you!”
It was perfect timing when my second grader brought home some science worksheets from school. I found some of the information interesting and very relevant to my little seed story.
“How do tiny seeds turn into giant trees? Seeds have a built-in code, a set of instructions, which tells the seed what it will become. A pine nut will grow into a pine tree.
An acorn will grow into an oak tree. The size of the seed
has nothing to do with how tall a tree grows.
It’s the code inside the seed that is the most important.”
How ‘bout that! As mothers, we are working hard to plant seeds in our children, aren’t we? Seeds of love. Seeds of patience. Seeds of forgiveness. Seeds of faith. Seeds of gratitude and honesty. Seeds of kindness. It’s okay if they are tiny seeds to begin with – they will grow. My goal is to work on that “code” inside of the seed – the set of instructions that will help guide my kiddos as they grow. And, from our little garden experience, I found that sowing requires some extra special attention.
I have to remind myself to nurture the seeds by showering them with love (especially on days when the kids are driving me utterly bazonkers – “Stop aggravating your sister! Don’t take your brother’s stuff without asking! Don’t whine. You get my drift…), looking for rays of hope (even when a situation seems hopeless), and preparing the soil (by taking the time to listen to all the “little” things they have to say, because I want them to share the “big” things, too).
I realize that some seeds take and some don’t. My prayer is that the important ones do take. However, three of the seeds my mom tried to plant in me didn’t take: (1) Ironing (2) Variety at all meals and (3) Sewing. Let me explain.
Ironing. With the addition of each child, I iron less and less (not that I ironed all that much before kids, BUT I was more willing). I love the way clothes look when they’re ironed, but I don’t love the time it takes to do it. I refuse to buy something without a little polyester (I prefer 95% polyester and 5% spandex, if you want the honest, comfy truth) and I’ve found that if you immediately take a shirt out of the dryer while it’s still warm, there is a good chance you can flatten out those wrinkles with your hand (well, most of them, anyhow).
Variety at all meals. My mom is so awesome! She and my dad joined us for a swim at the pool we just joined and she offered to bring a sack lunch. To you and me, a simple sack lunch might include a sandwich, chips, an apple, and a drink. Right? Wrong. My mom’s lunch included three different types of deli meats, two types of cheeses, tuna salad, cucumber salad, regular cucumbers (with Ranch – oh yeah – bay-bay!!), two varieties of Triscuit crackers, broccoli “trees,” carrot sticks, strawberries, watermelon, cookies AND drinks. I’m sure I forgot something. And I think I’VE really done somethin’ great when I have salad, spaghetti AND fruit salad all in one meal! ;-) I love you, Mom!
Sewing. Let’s just say that I’m NOT above using double-sided tape for a hem that’s come loose. (It’s really sticky, you know?) The warning here is that if you forget to take off the tape, you WILL end up with pokey pieces of tape in the strangest of places on other random clothes that you wash together with the aforementioned so-called “hemmed” shorts. (Ouch – what was that?!)
However, I must applaud my friend, Dorian Speed. She tackled the momma of all sewing jobs. She made her daughter’s First Holy Communion dress…out of her wedding dress! (breathe in, breathe out…slowly now…) Yes. At first, I wasn’t sure what I thought about that either. But, as I read more of her explanation, it really made perfect sense.
I mean, will my daughters REALLY want to wear my wedding dress? Let’s see – when my oldest daughter is 35 (the age when her daddy might be okay with her marrying), the dress will be 41 years old! Hmmmm…come to think of it, am I 100% sure the dress is even in that heir loomed box? Does anyone ever bother to think of that?! I haven’t until just now.
Anyway, way to go, Dorian! The only “darts” I know of are the Nerf ones that whiz by my ear as I try to get some laundry done. Pssst - there is a cool rumor going around that she is now going to transform the communion dress BACK into a wedding dress. Stay tuned!
The only “darts” I know of are the Nerf ones that whiz by my ear as I try to get some laundry done.
ReplyDeleteHa! Love it. And I tell you what - that "variety at every meal" thing is quite the goal to strive for. We're in the stage where I feel victorious if we only have Red Baron pizza one night a week.
So true, Dorian! If we EVER change up the chicken nugget-hot dog-taco-hamburger-pizza rotation...I will let everyone know! ;-)
DeleteLoved every word and just WHAT is wrong with just having one thing on your plate.....you know the casserole variety of one thing.........I stopped reading all those fancy cookbooks and watching cooking shows,when I tried to cook like they did and realized about 10 p.m. at night that scrubbing all those pots and pans is NOT worth the meal that MIGHT have turned out, usually didn't....some time I need to tell you about the night I made rubber right here in my own little kitchen, yes, rubber......eat your heart out Mr. Goodyear......my family had quite a laugh, somewhere in this house is evidence, by way of a tape, of the dish I tried to pass off as a dessert...... Oh, well, if nothing else I can say I have given it my best effort for the past 43 years....
ReplyDelete"bon appetite".....I think that is how you spell.
I want your recipe for rubber. It sure would've come in handy recently since we just had to buy four new tires for my vehicle. I would stop searching for good Ramen noodle recipes if I could make those pricey tires myself! ;-)
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