Weeding

After months of staring at my flower beds with the dread of weeding them, I finally did it this weekend. My cankles are pretty much just two giant mosquito bites but I feel very accomplished. As lame as that may seem to you, you didn’t see my flower beds before the weeding commenced, the weeds were at least 2 feet high and my beds are not the least bit tiny. Needless to say, I began the task in a foul mood, little did I remember how many great things there are about simply weeding a garden.

I stomped to the shed on Saturday morning feeling sleepy and pissed off that I had to do this alone, my husband was already fighting the good fight of push-mowing our huge backyard, which was also far too high (hence the mosquito cankles). As I slipped my hands in my gardening gloves I actually started feeling grateful. Grateful for the gloves to protect my hands and grateful for my mother-in-law who so thoughtfully gifted them to me the past Easter, I mean, only the kindest, most thoughtful person gives an Easter gift to their daughter-in-law?! A grin appeared on my already sweaty face and I thought of the time Charlene (my precious mother-in-law) and I planted some flowers together at her house a few summers past. What a nice day that was, just us two by the river planting and chatting all afternoon, and how I look forward to seeing her again soon.

The first handful of weeds I pulled made me feel grateful again, grateful for the ease of the pull and for the site of the roots. Then I thought of Mom, my roots, and all the times I’ve seen Mom flying around the yard, literally accomplishing more than a landscaping crew full of amigos could do in a weekend. Seriously, the woman is a super hero, I could explain this for hours but I’ll leave it at that today. I then channeled my inner-Annette (Mom) and really started ripping out some roots. I thought of how much I wished Mom was with me, but how much I knew I’d rather work alone so I wouldn’t have to see her sweat in my yard, that’s my work do, not Mom’s.

After 2 wheelbarrow loads of weeds to the curb, I started feeling like little Mia again, back when I was a kid. I have the bugs to thank for that, as well as my childhood backyard. They were crawling EVERYWHERE, I mean, I was amazed at the tiny ecosystem that was going on in my backyard! I saw hundreds of ants, crickets, worms, wasps, bees, spiders, furry spiders and my favorite, a gorgeous orange, green, and brown snapping turtle! Yes, my garden was SO bad there was a turtle living an insanely luxurious life a foot away from my beloved rosemary bush. The site of, what I believed was, a black widow was the only thing that frightened me and stopped my “sitting within a garden of all my creatures” thing I had going on, along with my little “queen of the bugs” pretend story I had twirling around my childlike brain. It quickly became a “how to NOT die this afternoon” kind of thing, luckily I didn’t. It’s pretty amazing that I came out of that with just mosquito bites. Again, I was feeling grateful.

My husband came to help me once he finished mowing the grass for several hours. I felt grateful again and excited that I could chat with him since my inner storyline of being the “queen of the bugs” had just been bitten by a maybe-black-widow-spider. More so, I was grateful for such a kind, hard working husband, though I still couldn’t hold back all of my weeding tips/demands from my poor Weston (husband).

By the time that the rain began trickling down, I finally felt accomplished, really accomplished though pissed at myself for not taking a “before” photo because it was oh so good. What’s next? That was my very next thought, what can I accomplish next in the yard? Mom will be so proud! That was my second thought, once again needing to do things for others approval and not necessarily my own. What I need to remember is the accomplished feeling that I had first once I had finally finished weeding my garden and how grateful it all made me. Maybe that will help me put on some work gloves again soon instead of clicking the “on” button to the television.

This feeling of accomplishment made my happy little childlike mind flood with thoughts, sending me deeper in my grateful mind. I thought of “weeding” and “roots” and how those words mean so many different things. How I’ve weeded out friends in my life because they were pulling all the color out of my life, making my life an overgrown mess, keeping me down and away from growth and flowering. My life is so much better because I gained the courage to weed it out. I pulled on my “work gloves” and decided to take matters into my own hands, no matter how many bugs I had to get through or how hard it was to give up friends that had become a part of my ecosystem, I had to weed out the bad friends for the sake of my own growth. There have been negative people in my life that I’m proud to say I graciously walked away from, and there are some people in my life that I consider pretty perennials, those that  I don’t get to see that often but I know will come back again soon, mostly family, that I’ll never weed because we share roots.

 If I can’t see the pretty flowers in my life, it’s my own fault, I need to take action and pull out the weeds so that I may be able to see, and be grateful for, the beauty that truly surrounds me. Are you getting all these analogies here? Okay, good, because I think I’ve used enough at this point.

Basically, my weekend was wonderful and it left me feeling grateful and accomplished. I feel another step closer to happiness because I know the feeling of accomplishment and I plan to hold on to those work gloves for the future. May I encourage you to get your weeding gloves on too? There’s just never a need for a weedy garden or a life full of people who keep you from blooming, so don’t be afraid to put on whatever gloves needed to get your life a little more in order, even if you do come away with a few bug bites. This cheesiness is brought to you by your friend, Meerkat. Thanks for reading my ramblings!