Grandma's Garden Lessons

Ever wish you could stop time? Just freeze it in it's tracks.
Maybe harness it and roll it back, so that all your precious memories
are being lived again? If you could choose one special memory
and have it there to touch and smell and feel again, what would it be?

I'd go back to my Grandma's garden.

It wasn't a huge garden by the standards then. Grandma was a
country woman, small in stature but big in heart and giving. Her garden
reflected that. She planted in every nook and cranny she could. Vegetables,
flowers, berries and more. If she didn't preserve the produce in her glass canning jars then it was given away to friends and neighbors.

I learned the value of hard work in that garden. I worked side by side with her more times than I can remember. Planting, weeding, harvesting were all part of teaching me that every living thing has a life cycle and you should respect life.

I can still see her there in my mind. Dressed in a cotton dress, dark knit stockings
black buttoned up shoes, a big white apron and a white bonnet, she looked like
a Norman Rockwell painting. The garden itself was alive with toads and butterflies
even hummingbirds.

True peace was relaxing in the shade sipping lemonade and eating homemade molasses cookies after planting corn and beans all morning. It was a delicious reward for all that hard work.

It was between those long rows that Grandma told me the secret of her and grandpa's long marriage

"Looky here" she'd said pointing to the corn kernels and dried beans in my hand.

"That's just like me and grandpa"

"Yes, Ma'am" I replied remembering manners
and wondering if maybe grandma had been in the garden sun too long that day.

Chuckling to herself a minute and wiping the dirt on her apron, she continued
"Grandpa is like the corn stalk, straight and strong, He shelters me and his family
from things that would hurt us, " I nodded my head but I still didn't know what she was talking about. " I'm the like the bean " she laughed. "Grandpa makes me feel secure and safe so I grow more in life and I support him and help him like the bean does growing its vine along the corn stalk. See we help and care for each other just like the beans and the corn"

So it went each summer, I thought we were planting a garden, Grandma knew she was planting lessons in love and life. The best thing from my grandma's garden though are the memories of a time when life was sweeter, slower, and people still stopped to share the harvest and even smell a rose or two.