Luna's Garden

Let me begin by saying that I have a purple or brown or basically anything that is NOT a green thumb. People know this and STILL give me flowers and plants
saying, "Don't worry this one is REALLY easy to take care of!"

One lady said, "This tree can go dayyss without watering!" Yeah, any of you remember the dead tree in our Nashville apartment? (I painted the pot all pretty). There's no need to be delicate, I've even killed cacti.  It's like friends are on a mission, playing to find the one thing that will survive my gardening

Well...that's the thing, guys..
I DON'T GARDEN, I barely water!

Luna seems to have a passion for.."gardening". She loves to buy seeds and shove them in the ground...ANY ground...and forget about them. She'll let nature do its thing.  She has her Mom's gardening skills.

The other morning I hear her shout, "OMG Mami...check this out!"
There it was, this 3 foot stalk with dried up leaves...a big nub on the end...peaking from the edge, bright orange wisps.

I can't tell you how many times I thought,
"I have to cut those weeds down..they look awful!". I never did get to cutting them down because..well..
I DON't garden!

I walk down the stairs...Luna has this big smile...pointing at the "weed"..shouting, "My SUNFLOWER!!!"

A friend recently wrote about sunflowers blooming.  I remember navigating to her blog. There is a picture of a beautiful, bright, smiling sunflower.  I thought how cool that would be...to be greeted by a "sunflower smile" every morning.

We watched Luna's "weed" open for 3 days...and one morning it was fully smiling back...Without water...without care...in one of the ugliest parts of my yard...having been shoved in as a little seed one day. But now...still giving us the gift of smiling back.

I know...so many cheesy metaphors about life..and growing and care taking...about Luna and I...about strength...and smiling...soooo many links.These past few days of internal chaos have drained me...left me way too empty to consider all the links between the weed/sunflower thing. There is even this little sunflower growing out  right below the big one.  I can't think of anything more perfect to draw on.

I took a bunch of pics (with my phone..lol)...late night pictures too..more metaphors sprouting from that.

This morning, I will just appreciate the smile it gives. I think it will be a good day today...the sun is out...and I'm not wishing or hoping or for rain.

My little gardener, Madeleine, is ready to shove some new seeds in the ground and I think I'll do the same...figurative ones, of course.

(Sorry about the quality of the pictures,
I took them with my Blackberry and was too hurried to think about how they may turn out. But at least they give
you and overall idea of this crazy, stubborn, smiling flower)