Showers

Originally Written Between 2016-2017                                            

 

What a perfect topic for April!  Of course, I’m thinking about the lyrics to the song, April Showers:  

                                    Though April showers may come your way,

                           They bring the flowers that bloom in May.

 

And, boy, did we get the rain last night!  So, it looks like the flowers in May will be bright and beautiful.  While I love Spring and its many warm days, I do look forward to green grass and green leaves on the trees.  It’s Cherry Blossom time in Washington, DC and to see the pictures of the trees on TV every year makes me wonder why I don’t just plan a trip to DC next April.  Hmmmm…. I think I will certainly place this on my bucket list.

 

Another reason to enjoy the rain in Spring and Summer is the fact that without rain, our gardens would not flourish.  Now, I have to admit it.  I don’t garden.  Oh, I always had a few flowers planted around our house and I would dutifully weed and water them during dry spells.  But, gardening is not my passion.  I appreciate the smell and beauty of flowers and I enjoy the tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, peas, and other vegetables that my neighbors give to me during harvest time.  I just don’t get any kind of a thrill growing them myself.  

 

And now that we live in a townhome, rules in our bylaws restrict us from planting flowers or gardens.  We are allowed to plant our flowers and tomatoes in pots around our patio or on our decks.  But, that’s it.  And, that’s just fine with me.  My kids give me the usual Mother’s Day hanging plants and I dutifully water them every day.  That is until we go on a week’s vacation and if I forget to give them to a neighbor or one of my sons….. they die.  This usually happens by the fourth of July.  So, I buy replacement flowers that usually last through August (if I don’t go on another vacation, that is).

 

I’d like to end with a story about my sister, Joanne, and her garden.  Joanne was around seven years’ old and always envied the huge, beautiful vegetable garden that our neighbors, the Amundson’s, had every year.  She asked our dad if she could plant a garden, too.  The only items she wanted to grow were peanuts, popcorn, and watermelon.  So, dad cleared a space in our back yard and helped her plant her garden.  Naturally, peanuts and popcorn did not take.  But, the watermelon vines were doing nicely.   But – not as nicely as our neighbors!  You see, they cared about their garden.  They watered it.  They fertilized it.  They weeded it.  Joanne was so disappointed that her little round watermelons didn’t look at all like her best friend, Bonnie Amundson’s, did.

 

One day, Joanne came home from playing with Bonnie and dad told her that she had a beautiful and huge watermelon in her garden.  She ran outside and lifted up the biggest – and most perfect – watermelon she had ever seen!  She ran over to Bonnie’s house to show it off.  She was so happy and thrilled that her watermelon was even bigger that Bonnie’s!

 

Years – and I mean YEARS later – when Joanne was in her fifties and came to visit our parents – did she learn of the practical joke my father pulled on her.  He didn’t want to claim it as a joke, however.  He said he just wanted Joanne to be happy and have some pride in her gardening techniques.  He fessed up to going to the local grocery store and buying that watermelon.  He placed it in Joanne’s garden next to a vine.  Joanne had been so excited that she never noticed that her watermelon was not attached to the vine.  She just grabbed it and ran to Bonnie’s house.  And until that day, 50 year’s later, she always thought that she was the best watermelon grower ever!