I couldn't name 3 plants to save my life. Aren't they all just roses? Lol! Just kidding. While the girls napped and my hubby worked on a speech, I was listened to my brother's birds chirping and the sound of the water, I seriously cringe when it comes to watering plants, I've always felt like, come on gets some damn sprinklers people! Let's get this over with. But after a few minutes of tending to the plants and pretending I was my parents I felt this serenity come over me, like a sign to not rush it, water each one, give it what it needs and the amount it needs, observe the leaves and the blossoms, the trees and their fruit. It's like for some reason each time I water their plants it a tug at my heart strings, a slap in the face, a jab in the ribs telling me to slow the effff down. Once again, this takes patience and care, two things I'm not always too in tune with when it comes to plants - period. Is this supposed to teach me patience? Is there a reason why they ask me and not my siblings? Am I being tested here? The more I spent in their garden the more I thought of awesome it would be to have my own garden at home and tend to it, maybe it will teach me a thing or two about patience, maybe it will be the one thing my parents would leave me, an ounce of care for plants and loads of patience. And the thought occurred to me, if I take some of their plants, would they even notice? Hehe! Ok I didn't take any home but the thought did cross my mind... Why would i go to a nursery to buy some when they have like 30 of the exact same one. And why? Why would someone have that many to begin with. Only they know and I guess watering one by one makes people happy? I don't have time for that so I would be the first to get a water drip system going. But would that defeat the purpose of tending to a garden and experiencing what my parents experience as they garden? People are just different. Seriously, who knows. Buy keep reading and you'll know what's the whole point of this post...
Looking at the sad plants I was feeling all sorts of ways. Weirdest thing ever. But it felt good to know that I won't have to hear that the plants died under my watch.
My favorite - pomegranates 
Tons of these plants and the ants were feasting at my feet. And a couple of pincher bugs got me too. 
A unique lookin mauve-grayish butterfly. So in a nutshell, I learned that I'm not ready to tend to gardens and spend countless hours pruning stuff and watering, I have tons of tending and pruning to do in my own life. Watering my own garden: Caring for my little girls and my hubby, if there's any free time I've got? it will be tending to them and growing more in love and in marriage that will in turn make for a better childhood for my girls, to see a lasting and loving Marriage as an example for our girls will be all we'll be tending to. Nourishing them with love and affection, planting seeds in their minds of goodness, kindness and more importantly of love.
Moral of the story: I think I fell very far from the tree when it comes to loving plants the way my parents do and that's ok! I've come to terms with it.
It's okay to not love what they love. It's hard to get them to understand that we are just different in that respect, I honestly think they task me with the watering of the jungle because they think I'm just going to love it and grow my very own green thumb.
For now in our own home we are sticking with the sprinklers and never letting go of our gardeners.
What a great post Gabby! I am also not a plant person. Mark grew a vegetable garden this year and is quite proud especially when we eat the "fruits" of his labor. "Lucky" for us we only need to tend it for a few months out of the year. Discovering nature is a beautiful thing. Often I get lost in the beauty of it and realize I am but a tiny dot in this huge environment. Just yesterday Mark and I watched a heron on the roof of our neighbors house across the street. It was amazing. Like the saying goes, sometimes you need to stop and smell the roses.
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