3. First Floral Purchase of the Season

My introverted ways sometimes challenge my ability to parent my extroverted daughter with peace and calm. She thinks nothing of having plans every evening after school. That thought alone wears me out most days, let alone carrying out whatever plans she has in mind.

I do my best to stay ahead of her requests, so that I can have the energy to offer her something to do. I know she doesn’t need to be busy every night of the week—I am not a cruise director, but it’s fun to surprise her with plans on occasion.

One evening the week after the Royal Wedding and my satisfying and productive afternoon in the yard, I was ready to buy and plant flowers in our wheelbarrow-turned-flower pots. It was our outing for the evening, and we had a great time choosing flowers.

Early on in her young life, it was apparent  my daughter had an eye for design and fashion, and as we pushed our flower cart around Home Depot, it became obvious that she also has an eye for flowers.

She selected marigolds and a neon green plant to add to some of the flower pots. I chose geraniums and ivy. We also picked out some red blossoms (name unknown) that would fit on a plant hanger in our backyard and begonias in memory of our grandfather who died this winter. We loaded up on potting soil and did our best to not over buy flowers like we had last year.

My daughter’s neighborhood friends were out when we pulled in, so they helped us with some of the planting. My daughter has a generous spirit, so she was intent on giving our neighbors a pot of flowers. When that gift was delivered, she was done with the planting and wanted to play with her friends, so I resumed the work on my own.

I prefer to eat a doughnut with a fork because of my aversion to having sticky hands, so it always surprises me when I like getting my hands dirty with potting soil. 

I planted the begonias in the backyard around our tree so I could enjoy them when I look out the kitchen window. 

I hadn’t counted on the soil around the base of the tree being so difficult to dig. It has a dense root system, so I went to my tool shed and found a hand ax and began loosening up the soil with the ax. It was hard work, and I broke a sweat, which rarely happens, and added to the sense that I was hard at work. The sun set before I finished getting the begonias settled in the ground and watered.

I was so pleased with how it looked when I was finished. It was an evening well spent for extrovert and introvert alike.