Sustenance

I've had a leaf sitting on my dresser next to my jewelry box for more than half a year now.

I went on a trip to the eastern part of the state last year and grabbed a few leaves. It was in the fall and the leaves were huge, colorful, and unlike anything I had seen around here.

They were beautiful. I used one as a bookmark for a while. Most of the leaves fell apart and I threw them away, but I've kept one leaf, completely in tact and gorgeous, sitting on my dresser.

I went on that fall trip with someone who has since fired me from his life. 

I looked at that leaf every day and wondered what to do with it. It was too beautiful to throw away, yet I didn't want to keep looking at it throughout the day.

It took me a long time to decide to get rid of that leaf.

I thought about it and thought about it.

Something has to come out of that bad relationship, right? I need it to mean something. I need to learn a life lesson so I won't make the same mistake again.

Only, I can't think of a single life lesson I learned from it. It was fun until it wasn't and then it was over. 

That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

I took the leaf out of my house and out to my garden about a week ago. I crumbled it up into a tiny million pieces. I scattered it all around, even in my compost pile.

I felt good about it. There was no crying and no regrets. I made the right choice to get rid of the leaf.

I will work in my garden tonight, more than likely, to make sure something comes out of those million little pieces. From those pieces I will grow tomatoes, lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage and onions.

Those million little pieces will eventually turn into canned items that will fill my kitchen in the fall and winter months. That means those little pieces of my past will turn into sustenance for the future.

I no longer look at that leaf every day. I don't feel like I need it in my life, and I'm fine with those million little pieces being outside, in the dirt, wind, rain and hail. 

Maybe I did learn something from that relationship. Maybe there are some things that don't deserve to take up space in your house.

(And now I'm crying.)

Life in photos

Part 5 - Love is universal.

I watched my nieces on Sunday afternoon for a few hours.

My Dad was there, I was there, three kids under 2 were there, and my three dogs were there.

I love having a house full of people. My house was kind of a zoo that afternoon.

The doorbell rang while we were watching Scooby Doo. At first, I thought it was on tv. But I went to my door, and there was a nice lady wanting to talk to me.

Only, she didn't speak English very well. I tried to communicate with her, but I wasn't doing a very good job of it. She pointed to her ring finger and pointed to me.

Oh! I figured she probably wanted to talk to a man. As I'm the man in my house, I figured she wanted to talk to my Dad, who was in the kitchen.

He did a much better job of communicating with her than I did. She was my neighbor, and had talked to him about gardening a couple of weeks ago.

She brought me a tool to use in my garden. I think that's funny, because my neighbors have the best garden on the face of the planet. They spent a lot of time in it, and there's not a weed to be seen near it.

Meanwhile, my little garden of nine plants is mostly just weeds.

(I think she's trying to tell me something, haha.)

My neighbor came into my house to tell my nieces hi. My puppy ran away in the process, and my Dad caught her outside.

Like I said, my house was kind of a zoo that afternoon.

My 2-year-old nieces were being shy, but I was trying to get them to tell her hello.

I grabbed my 7-month-old baby niece and brought her to my neighbor.

My neighbor's eyes lit up!

She grabbed the baby from my hands, and starting talking to her, cooing at her, and kissed her chubby little cheeks a few times.

We laughed a lot. In broken English, she asked what the baby's name was, and my Dad explained to her that the girls were his grandkids, I was his daughter, and the kids were my brother's kids.

We found out that she has four grandkids herself.

When I answered the door, I had no idea how to communicate with her. It turns out, you just need a pretty cute, squishy baby to bond over.

The baby was happy she was getting attention. She made a new friend  and didn't seem to mind at all.

It doesn't matter what language you speak. Love is universal.