Cherishing Her Green Thumbs

My mother always had an eye for plants. We called her green thumbs. My father cleared out an area so that she could have her garden, but I never understood why my mother always tended to her garden. No matter what the weather was like outside, rain, heat, and snow. She tended to her garden like it was her own. Growing up my mother went out to tend to the garden each day. There were all kinds of plants and flowers. Orchids, Rosemary, Thyme, Sunflowers, Roses, Tulips, and many more. She attended to every plant sale that the market held. Finding new ideas and learning new ways to tend to her garden. She sung beautifully to the plants as she removed the weeds surrounding them. Her voice was calm and through the tone of it, you could tell that she was happy. She had a natural talent. After she was done tending to the garden, she was come back inside and sip freshly squeezed lemonade. Her jumper would be covered in dirt so was her garden gloves. The hat that she wore could cover her whole body from the sun beams. It was basically like her own personal shade. She knew which plants need what like the amount of water each plant needed, or how much sunlight. She knew everything about anything. Including plants that she did not have. Of course she had rules applied to the garden. Rules as followed: one give each plant the right amount, two always remove the weeds, and three always show them the love that they deserve. Her eye for the garden was one of the greatest. She knew which plant should go where and why. Each plant she called by name. She even came up with a poem: 

“Roses are red, 

Violets are blue,

Plants need love too.”

 In the midst of it all, there was a Koi pond. Whenever she felt like she could not go on anymore she always went to her garden. One day my mother brought me to her garden and told me that, 

   “Life may not be the way we want it to be or what we’ve always dreamed of. It’s important that we cherish what is already in front of us.”

That same day, she got terribly ill. Days later she passed away. For years, I haven’t attended the garden so the plants were no longer plants and the koi pond was no longer a pond. I was married now and expecting. For days I have not been the same person. I no longer felt the happiness or the beauty I once knew. So I decided to sell the house. I went down to the garage to look for a for sale sign. I did not want to stay in house any longer, but as I looked through the old boxes. My attention went to an old photo of me and my mother. Smiling and tending the garden together. On the back of the photograph was the quote my mother always taught me. I read it out loud and the bundle of joy started to kick. My eyes began to fill with tears of happiness as I found her gardening gloves and her hat. I put my hand inside the glove and it felt like old times again. I could hear us singing and reciting the poem together. I have never felt so ordinary since then. I gazed towards the direction of the garden and remembered that the beauty was no longer there or so I thought. My mother gave me something beautiful to remember her by and I wanted something to pass on to my daughter. I went back upstairs where my husband was but he covered my eyes and led me by the hand. He said there was a surprise waiting for me outside. 

   We stopped walking for a moment and then he uncovered my eyes. My heart was filled with joy. I could not believe that this was the same garden that my mother tended to. The koi pond is now the koi pond again. All the plants that my mother always wanted was finally in her garden. My mother’s poem and the rules were engraved within the gate. He has been tending to the garden for the past few years. I could not see the garden because it was blocked off by a gate. He noticed that I have not been the same nor stepped foot inside of the gate. The beauty of the garden was now restored once again. I decided not to sell. This is my ordinary. 

   From that moment on even after I gave birth. The three of us went out everyday tending to the garden. We sung and the song and recited the poems as well as the rules before we began tending the garden. We try out best to imagine what my mother saw before adding a new addition to the garden. Most days we succeed but other days I knew she would’ve been laughing along with us. As we tried to do what she started. Tending to something so ordinary may seem hard at first but as long as we keep on going the better it will be. 

Sometimes people forget to appreciate what is right in front of them. They always seeking to look for more and that is not a bad thing. The important thing is that we have to appreciate and embrace the ordinary things first. If we cannot learn how to appreciate the ordinary things then how we would be to  to appreciate the things that we look for more of. Embracing what is in front of us is never a bad thing. We always want more than what we ask for and sometimes that causes us not to see the beauty in ordinary things. The ordinary things in life are not there to make us feel or want more, but it is there to help us understand that just by having ordinary things. We can always find the beauty inside of it.