What a wonderful weekend. We had lovely spring weather sprinkled with thunderstorms — we sat on our front porch on Saturday afternoon as a family: Milo swinging gently with his nose in a book (where it is about 80% of the time these days), Oliver drinking tea, and Emil quietly, intently sweeping the dust off the steps while Andrew and I sat watching the rain and wind blow through. Just hours earlier we had harvested a good amount of baby lettuces and radishes from our garden for that night’s salad. I also threw a few more radish seeds in the empty holes those left, and in the empty spaces where our garlic refused to come up (as usual)… it seems that we have some serious vegetable eaters in our house (finally!) and I’m anticipating very little waste this summer. Plus, our neighbors all but commissioned us to be the neighborhood supply for fresh veggies (and strawberries, apples, and peaches) for all, ha! No pressure!
I was reminded of why we do this. Why we go to all the trouble of weeding and composting and tilling, of tending to our small plot of garden. We do it because it brings us so much joy to step out into the warm soil and pick a few things to enjoy every day. That all these wonderful greens came from tiny seeds just 3 weeks ago will never cease to blow my mind. It all happens so fast, from tiny seeds to bountiful greens all from the energy of the sun, rain, and soil. That is truly amazing, friends!
It was also so nice having Andrew in town. He was gone for a week (and will be again this week) and though we manage just fine and have plenty of extra helping hands from our friends and neighbors, it’s exhausting and lonely to parent on my own. I find myself so busy just meeting the needs of everyone — the cooking, preparing breakfasts and lunches and dinners, driving to and from school and circus classes, gardening, keeping the house clean and the laundry done, the dishes done and the kitchen clean, plus all the grocery shopping and errands and spending time comforting and wiping away tears, navigating disagreements and drama, you know… all of the daily things that we do without a thought because they need to be done — and then at the end of the day, I really missed my guy.
I missed our joking banter and chatting about the day, the sharing of all those household things that run so much more smoothly when there are two of us pitching in. He has a lot more travel coming up this month, but at the end of it all, we have a fantastic vacation planned, so thinking of that is encouraging while I’m in the thick of it. Plus, a week here or there is nothing to complain about when so many parents do this every day, whether it’s from divorce or death of a spouse, or being single to begin with, or the long deployments our military families endure.
My heart is so full, and I feel so lucky for all that I have, especially the people in my life who make every day so much fuller.