I Was Thinking... The Growing Cycle

By the time this comes out in the paper, we will be past the 4th of July. With the passing of the 4th, my mom would often say, “Well, summer’s about over.”
I hated to hear that as a kid because I knew when summer was over school would begin again. Later in life, as a teacher, I felt the same way. But we do still have the rest of July and all of August and many times September is really nice too.
Now if we could only convince stores not to start “back to school” sales in July.
But let’s focus on the now. My garden is coming along fine, and I’ll get some produce from it soon. Most of the flowers are now in full bloom and the farmers’ fields are developing right on course.
It is amazing how fast the growing process takes place every year. Seeds placed in barely warm earth, sprout, grow, develop, and produce. But come September and October, their life cycle is pretty much over as we pick the last of the vegetables and crops are harvested.
Those flowers we planted or bought and tenderly cared for gave us their flash of color and beauty and are gone after the first heavy frost. The trees that went from buds to leaves and then dropped millions of seeds will eventually turn from green to an array of colors and drop back to earth. Even those annoying yet cute little bunnies that harass my gardens soon turn into not so cute rabbits. How quickly the life cycle progresses.
When we moved here 45 years ago, not a tree or bush graced our lawn. Now my major complaint is having too much shade and having to pick up sticks all the time. And don’t get me started about raking leaves in the fall.
It isn’t just with plants that I’m astonished with the growing cycle. It doesn’t seem so long ago our first daughter was crawling around on a blanket put out on the lawn and for the very first time she touched blades of grass. From exploring her new world, crawling, walking, running, riding a bike, and getting her driver’s license, it went so fast. Our now adult daughters are well into their careers and even talk about how they have to plan for retirement some day. How did this cycle of life progress so fast?
As a child, I couldn’t wait to “grow up.” It seemed like it would take forever. But how quickly those years passed, and I was on to the next phase of life, always looking for what the future would hold. School, graduation, college, marriage, a job, children, and here I am retired already.
How did this happen so fast? Today, I watched as my neighbors 2- and 4-year-old grandsons played in the dirt by their grandparent’s garage. They dug holes in the dirt, raked it over and dug some more. Their joy and innocence in just manipulating a little part of their world was enjoyable to behold. They didn’t need a video screen or animation to enjoy their environment.
Realizing I’m in the fall of my life cycle, I need to learn from those two boys. There are a lot of simple pleasures that during the busy working years of my life I often ignored. Maybe that is why God gave us more aches and pains as we get older, so we have to slow down and smell the roses. Sitting on my deck with a gentle breeze keeping the mosquitoes away allows me to listen to the sound of the cardinal in our tree and watch as the billowy clouds drift overhead. Later this evening I’ll be able to watch the fireflies spring up from the lawn and garden.
It’s funny, those are the same things I remember doing as a kid as I was waiting to grow up.
Did You Ever Wonder? — If a lawyer can be disbarred and clergymen defrocked, can electricians be delighted?