I held a blink for too long.
Spiraled away.
Stepped out of the garden for merely a few days.
But it called me, it beckoned me, it said...
Vanessa come back, we have something for you.
The air had turned from thick blocks of heat, to warm moist waves.
I hadn't noticed.
The leaves had shifted, the gifts left to be collected.
Big green leaves looked sun parched, with glints of golden yellow.
A change was on the horizon.
A place that was tidy with new beginnings, was now shifting.
Autumn on the horizon, barely visible in the distance, but there.
Where something ends, something begins, they say.
The vegetable garden, now a late summer jungle, began to change.
Pumpkins, so many pumpkins, turned from green to orange.
With even more to come.
The garden at its peak.
Right at the top, with a fresh wave of tomatoes, and tallest of basil.
Leeks and green onions danced around the baby globes...
Cherry tomatoes, sweet and warm...
Gifting.
The tomato vines, the scent...
Filled with memories of checking my dad's trucks of tomatoes (produce broker).
What a scent those vines hold.
Healing you before you need healing.
Healing you in ways you didn't know you could be healed.
Basil smashed between finger tips.
Deep breath.
Quiet, crunching paws on pumpkin leaves.
Perception changed, maybe forever.
Of this fleeting life.
This fragile life.
This beautiful life.
Gazebo gets blown off tall stand, as vines bust through their homes.
Where are they headed?
No one knows.
Peek around giant pumpkin leaves, and there you see them.
Childhood favorites.
Orange globes.
Keeping you young forever, no matter what the years say.
No matter what the dish of the day.
No matter how good or bad things sway.
It's just part of everyday.
No worse or better.
It is as it is.
Sometimes you simply have no say.
Acceptance, faith, falling into the arms of what you believe...
The lesson of the day.
The only way to stay sane.
The only way to...
Keep breathing.
And enjoying.
And living.
And hoping.
And wishing.
Resistance creates pressure.
But what if?
What if you just trusted?
Instead of resisted?
What if?
Pumpkins grow on sagging domes...
Some ready.
Some waiting.
Waiting for Autumn to look clearer in the distance.
A beautiful smile, red hair, pulling a wagon...
A wagon filled with treats from the apple orchard, pumpkins from the fields, a long brown coat, with leaves of all colors swirling around, gold and crimson and tangerine abound.
Thank you more than you can know.
Emotional support, it's more healing than anything I have ever known.
Intertwine it with hope and faith and plunging.
And somewhere in that, you have a whole new outlook.
The trick?
Hang on tight.
Somehow.
Love, Vanessa
