Reflections from the Garden

First blog post! I sat down to write about flowers and gratitude, but the topic of aging demands to be acknowledged before all else, so aging and gratitude it is.

There are lots of boomers here on the North Island, with grubby hands, turning over their garden beds and mucking paddocks in the rain.  If they are very lucky, they ride their aging horses on the trails and let their grandchildren plant radishes and play in the mud.

They want to age in place in their homes and gardens; they want to live with their house pets and barn animals.  But the health issues, financial challenges or altered levels of ability that often come with aging mean hard work and cost surprising amounts of time.

A good friend up here says she is too old for everything and can’t remember anything anyway.  In the past three years, she built a new home, put in gardens and a lawn and planted trees; she paddles a board, runs the dog and helps her friends, having come through a shattered hip and several broken vertebrae.

I see these folks all around and hear their stories.  Their determination and adaptability inspires me and makes me smile.

I used to roll my eyes at my mother when she started taking several days to complete what would previously be finished in one. Wherever she is now, I suspect she is rolling her eyes at me as I load the wheelbarrow only half full and take twice as long to finish the chores.

I’ve had some health challenges over the past couple of years.  As difficult as it’s been, the hardest part has been to allow myself the time to slow down and the grace to ask for help.

It’s a stretch to claim I’m doing this with any grace whatsoever.  But it’s worth it, however it gets done.

I spend hours in the barn and garden. Dawson gives me big horsey hugs; the alpacas make people laugh with their pretty faces and dinosaur voices. The garden gives flowers, fruit and vegetables. The barn offers eggs, alpaca fiber, and a place for my horse.  The forest smells of winter.

I traded respectable clothes for hoodies and breeches in dark colours. My go to shoes are knee high boots that are better left outside the front door. I recently started wearing an old baseball cap. My office is a messy desk beside a window, covered in plant tags and garden maps.

This time of year I look out at puddles and frost and browse seed catalogues. I  search online for must-have dahlia tubers at a reasonable price, and dream about growing prize-winning  chrysanthemums.

The work is demanding and annoyingly slow, but it gives me joy and the chance to spread a little beauty around.

Two women in particular inspire me, one family, the other a friend.  They are both in their nineties, quite different but fierce in their own ways, adaptable, interested and interesting, determined, and still young. I hope this place gives me the gift of such an approach to life. 

Wherever you are, I hope the same for you and your loved ones.    Cheers,  Sue