day thirty-two: even in the off-season

Karen Mello Burton

day thirty-two: even in the off-season

Today our close friends spent the day building a greenhouse for their botany-minded 13 year-old for his birthday. They are always putting us to shame with their weekend projects and commitment to an industrious life. Anyway, the idea of the greenhouse got me to thinking. Their son has found something that he is tremendously good at (he can grow anything, as witnessed by his 10-ft sunflowers) and has decided he would like to do it for more than the natural growing season. A greenhouse allows him the privilege to keep the dahlias and the veggies coming in the middle of January, when everything else in our climate is taking a nice long Winter's nap.

So what do I want to keep alive? What can I nurture in my proverbial greenhouse when it logically should be done growing, at least temporarily? And I decided that I have become converted to writing. It is a living, breathing, organic experience for me that really should, logically, be dormant in my life with all of the other things I am obligated (happily) to do. But it needs the experience and trial of growing when it isn't supposed to. It needs the sun through the glass and the mist of a good spray bottle. And in the cold months when I am scraping my windshield and driving home after dark, it will feel nice and cozy to come home and tend to my family and then to myself, even just a little, by visiting my greenhouse.




And thanks to Erin at Together for Good for this blog award. What a sweetie. And a great thinker/writer too.