Subject: a heartwarmer : gardening , with pen in hand
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the best thing to happen to mornings since the sun !
your morning thought for the day :
let us be grateful to people who make
us happy : they are the charming gardeners
who make our souls blossom .
- - marcel proust
eva encourages us today to do something unusual .
we know many of you enjoy gardening , and this might be just down
your alley . enjoy today ' s heartwarmer and have a great week !
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gardening , with pen in hand
by eva shaw , ph . d .
i am asking you to look at keeping a garden journal .
it ' s good for the soul , it ' s good therapy , and it ' s a good way to grow .
just today i ' ve received a new one - - a hard cover that ' s
stripped like garden onions , with a silky marigold - colored ribbon to
mark the progression of my journaling .
the journal is pristine , clean and fresh , much like my cutting
garden was less than a year ago . soon , the journal will be spilling
over with words like my new garden .
gardens and journals are much the same - - they start with
dreams . the one in my front yard was a birthday present from my
husband . he hauled bricks , sweated over cement , wheeled in topsoil ,
all in the name of love . i choose the flowers . i dug in the dirt to
create a bit of paradise joining with nature .
i planted sweet peas for fragrance , and since their season is
short , they tell me to cherish life , reminding me that we do not know
the number of our days . i planted bulbs by the dozen . i loved their
surprise factor . i can never remember just where i ' ve planted them
and bam !
they pop up in unexpected places . they take me to a time when
as a child i was ill , feverish and miserable . mama arranged a
handful of king alfred daffodils in a crystal vase and placed them
near my bedside . it was my first grown up bouquet and formed a part
of me that continues , now these years later , to share her " flowers
make you feel better " philosophy as i give bouquets away .
daisies are in the garden because they ' re part of my history .
when joe and i were first married , barely making ends meet , he
splurged one payday showering me with a small bouquet of daisies . in
our 31 years together , i ' ve received more expensive gifts , but the
daisy remembrance is wrapped in the velvet of precious memories . i
must ask him if he remembers . i am sure he does .
sunflowers are in my cutting garden although i cannot get myself
to cut these beauties as they tower over the garden fence and flaunt
their faces to the world . they tell me it ' s good to be sturdy and
stand out from the crowd .
a journal is like a garden where we " plant " our ideas , some
perhaps too dear to share and some that are better left as secrets .
we can place words on paper to write out , scratch out , rewrite and
ponder at silent moments .
there are no rules to journaling as there are no right or wrong
ways to garden . someday when i ' m older , i may want to think back and
marvel at my ( possibly misspent ) youthful middle age , juggling
writing projects with a garden full of marauding slugs barely waiting
until twilight to pay a visit .
taking time to write in a garden journal feels odd , especially
if we ' re not practiced at jotting down thoughts , plans and even
jumbled ideas . knotty memories may shoot up and we may wonder if
they ' re weeds or the sprouts of something to be cherished . sometimes
we have to wait and see .
in our garden journal we need not censor or explain . the book
can be for our eyes only , to be hidden away from others . that ' s the
" job " of a journal .
journaling about the garden isn ' t great literature . it ' s simply
a reflection of me . oh , how i wish my grandmothers had kept journals .
so if for nothing but the future , i ' ll write .
someday , perhaps from this beautiful new journal , a yet unborn
child will say , " i ' m planting sweet peas . great grandmother eva
adored them . " this reader will know that in 2005 , only lavender
sweet peas produced flowers . that " fact " will disappear unless it ' s
in my journal .
i ' m going to press flowers between the pages , a snapshot of my
garden , maybe a bit of poetry , a photograph of my welsh terrier ,
buttons . i will add garden - variety quotes to stir me and thoughts i
cannot do without .
what will i write ? what will you write ? i ' m a simple person and
will scribble , " today i ' ve started this garden journal . with paper
and pen i will tell myself about my garden . "
it ' s my hope you write about the breezes on your face , the soil
on your fingers and the sunshine on your back , among other miracles .
i pray you ' ll take up gardening with pen in hand .
- - eva shaw , ph . d .
eva is a woman who lives to write , garden and mentor . she teaches
writing online , speaks nationally on grief and recovery and is the
author of the just released , what to do when a loved one dies : a
practical and compassionate guide for dealing with death on life ' s
terms .
from our mailbag :
( in response to last week ' s story , only winners )
dear heartwarmers :
two great stories . keep them coming .
- - pat
dear heartwarmers :
thank you for another wonderful heartwarmer . hope she realizes
this was one kid who had an imagination ! blessings .
- - jene
dear heartwarmers :
hey , pat and his invisible baseball is such an amazingly
beautiful story . there ' s something very basic in our human nature
that makes us connect in an invisible way . i only wish politicians
wouldn ' t spoil it all with their ridiculous fake rhetoric spewing
" divide and rule " policies . sorry , i couldn ' t help that after the
bomb blasting news from everywhere , not just london .
- - chhanda
dear heartwarmers :
i have a daughter with down ' s syndrome and loud noises bother
her also . at our church there is a section where a group of down ' s
sit . it is interesting to note that when the preaching or music gets
louder , they begin to cover up their ears .
- - robert
dear heartwarmers :
although i haven ' t expressed my opinion about one of your
stories for quite some time - - even though there have been many good
ones - - i feel compelled to comment on this one . as a person with
several disabilities , including blindness , i couldn ' t agree more that
when we show friendship and compassion , everybody wins . if ours was
a world in which more of those inclusive and receptive attitudes were
shown , perhaps it would be a kinder , gentler world . thanks for an
excellent story which mirrored the best that we can be when we put
our minds , hearts , and souls to it .
- - terri
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