Circles

I often speak of the Circle of Life, of season’s coming and going, of the natural order of things. It seems to me, however, that there are parts of the whole Circle of Life thing that I’d really rather just not think about, except in distant theory.

That is until the theory became cruel fact and now I spend a great deal of time thinking about the reality of Life’s circle.

I have struggled with how much of that journey to share here---in a place that promises “a light-hearted look at pleasures and perils of gardening in Lewis County,” Some of this stuff is personal, it is raw and it is the antithesis of lightheartedness. And it has very little to do with gardening-- except in the most esoteric of ways.

The column/blog are called “Over My Garden Gate” because I imagined that it would be as if we are neighbors, casually gossiping over the fence on a fine afternoon. We could share stories and insights ---and complain non-stop about the elk, or at least I would.

Variegated Lilac: pretty to look at.

Fragrance? Not so much.

What to do now? I can’t NOT write what I feel. I can’t sit and force myself to write about the lilacs blooming early this year when the only thing I can think about is that the lilacs were blooming on the day we got married and that was May 10^th, not the middle of April, and that Shane claimed to HATE lilacs and I never believed him and now it’s too late to ask him why he hated them. It is impossible to separate my thoughts into tidy columns; my feelings leak across the page and the sweet and the bitter are all intermingled.

So many of you have been so kind and supportive, encouraging me to continue writing. And some of you have even spoken of your own difficult journey and that my words have helped you in some way. Your words mean more to me than you will ever know, and I thank you for that.

So I will keep on writing “Over My Garden Gate.” Sometimes it will be about gardening, and sometimes it will be lighthearted, and sometimes---just like Life---it won’t be.