It’s about life, it’s about relationships and friendships, but I’m mostly mourning this…
From my vibrantly blooming Old Copper rhododendron (note the cream trim on my house–now it’s off-white) to a dead stick; I didn’t even notice it dying. Now I wonder when its decline started and why I assumed it would live forever.
I was very firm with the guy coming to cut it down that I only wanted it leveled to the ground and not pulled out. I have so many plants and bulbs in this small flowerbed that could be destroyed by yanking out the rhody’s huge root system. It was a reality check when he told me that yes, he agreed, not because of my reasons but out of worry about cables and other things under there. As many of you remember, my late husband spent a lot of time and effort hunting down an Old Copper rhody for me because he knew I loved the orange/coral color. He was a Purple Splendor guy himself!
Although it’s a rite of passage, it’s still a shock to see Sharky losing his baby teeth. Permanent ones are so BIG when they come in, and the children don’t look the same at all with different size and shape teeth. It’ll take some adjustment.
Perhaps I shouldn’t get overly attached to any of my plants? This big fellow was hopping around my flowerbed while I was mowing my front lawn, totally fearless and nibbling away on something. Hopefully the leaves of my dying away tulips.
Book Club yesterday was a litany of more lost colleagues, two lovely English teachers to cancer. As we discussed, it’s a part of life, losing people through death or disappearance. My friend group has changed quite a bit in the past few years; I still have a strong social network although some I thought were friends have dropped away. As the saying goes, perhaps they were just there for a season or a reason; not every connection is meant to last forever, but each one has a specific purpose.
This morning I was happy not to get up at Teacher Time (5:15 a.m.) to go watch Ian and deliver him to daycare like I did yesterday. Since retirement, I’m more of an 8 a.m. riser. However, I loved helping out and Ian was full of smiles, laughter and loud “talking.” After the daycare drop off, I had a delightful coffee date. I thought I was doing well without any coffee but discovered about 9 that I really wanted/needed some caffeine. No headache, just ready for a nap. š
Today’s “excitement” is a dental appointment and then perhaps some lawn mowing. Yard maintenance is never ending this time of year!
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