Watering the Garden

Now, this may seem a bit odd as a blog today, but relevant with so many meanings for us.

We all know that to have a healthy garden, or to keep our plants green that we must occasionally water them, give them light, feed and care for them (all a part of love) and for myself, I must talk to them.  I really believe it is the secret to having such a beautiful and healthy orchid and vegetable garden at home.

I am going to use my orchid garden to make a correlation in this blog with my family today, because of the delicate handling necessary in their care.  I believe we can all agree that the same delicacy applies to loving and caring for our family too.  You may find this a bit odd, funny, laugh at it (I hope it does make you laugh), or that I may have lost it, but I assure you that have not lost and interestingly enough, I handle the care  or my "gardens" much like the care I find that I do with my family. 

When I first started caring for orchids years ago, I could not keep them in bloom.  No matter what I did, they were losing their blossoms and their color faded and their was no cooperation on their part, or so it seemed.  You following me here?  Regardless, I worked tirelessly at developing my knowledge of orchids, what helped in their growth, development, what their likes and dislikes were and what type of light and food they needed to thrive and stay in bloom.  I have always talked to my houseplants and it seemed to work.  Of course I have always enjoyed doing my best to having weekly conversations with every member of my family and I saw how the family thrived and grew as a result of that ongoing communication, no matter how big or small the connection was, there was always growth.

Despite my lack of experience with this as a small child growing up, I somehow have always known that it was important to make time for family conversation, to talk and share with them, provide them with routine messages of love and the small little things that I like to call "watering" Therefore, while not always in the beginning, I have now made it part of my weekly routine; daily routine if I am able to do so, in order to be sure to convey in a small message of love, which may be in the form of either a text, an e-mail, a phone call and most importantly and preferred, if at all possible, an in-person hug, with the statement, "I love you...," or "Thank you for ....," or that I appreciated them in my life and let them know that my life is a better place because of them. 

Ok, I certainly have the caring for my orchid garden mastered, so I better reassure you that obviously the content of my conversation with my orchids or vegetable garden are vastly different from that with the care and love of my family, or you would be correct to think me a nut case, but I am sure you can see that the idea is the same.  A little water, a little conversation, motivation and love can really go a long way to growing your gardens, no matter what you are trying to raise or grow. I believe I now have it down for my family too.

Funny how something as silly as the health and vibrancy of my orchid garden (pictured above) could resonate with  me and offer a correlation with the importance of loving and watering my family, but for whatever reason, it did this week and I made absolutely sure that I reached out to each member of my family to share with them a little "water" and TLC.  I hope all of you are able to make time to do the same.