Digging in the Dirt

I absolutely love digging in dirt. There is nothing more satisfying and therapeutic to me than planting and watching flowers grow. I love the smell of dirt and especially on a hot summer afternoon as the sprinkles of rain begin. What smells better?

I think I inherited my love of flowers from my mom. I don't remember her ever planting or growing flowers (except roses) when we were growing up but she loved flowers. After she sold her home and moved to the senior apartment complex, each spring I would dig in her dirt and plant some flowers in the beds outside the sliding glass door of her apartment. From where she sat in her lift chair, she looked right out that door and to her flower bed. Some days she called me at work to tell me how pretty it was that day. That was one of those things that she wanted to "pay" me for doing and one of those things that I had to say, "just say thanks." Her love of the flowers was all the "pay" I needed.

Since mom died 4 years ago, I've had only my flower bed to plant and I miss having two...but most of all I miss her and her love of the beauty of the petunias, mandevilla, and begonias that we chose for her flower bed. I like to continue to "dig in the dirt" because I love the feel of it as it runs through my fingers but most of all as a reminder of her and her love of the flowers.



For those of you who know my sister, Kathy, she has always loved to dig in dirt too...ask her about "digging" when she was a child. Maybe she'll post that on her blog sometime :).