Confession:  I played hookey from work today.  I prefer to think of it as a mental health day.  It's the end of September, gorgeous outside, my flowerbeds need weeding and my soul needs feeding.

It was a bit warmer today, about 82, not hot by any means.  The neighborhood was at work or school and the cicadas have stopped chirping.  Nothing but an occasional car passing by. It was quiet and still.  I found my old, work-in-the-yard sneakers, yes I had to go searching for them, and proceeded outside to rescue the neglected flowerbed.  This isn't just any flowerbed, it is my Mother's Day peony bed.  My family and I dug and planted it shortly after moving into our new house.  When we arrived in the midwest, I was amazed all the different types of flowers growing here. I'd never seen a peony in the south and had to have one, or five.

                                                                spring 2005

Anyway, I am ashamed to say that my passion for working in the yard has dwindled over the past few years and the bed was looking pitiful.  The peonies were fine and the black eyed susans were fine, although out of control, but the bed itself was quite neglected.  So I plunked myself down began pulling.  And clipping.  And pulling . . . As I began to see the the soil and feel it on my fingers and under my fingernails all the guilt about playing hookey faded away.  I was peaceful and feeling good about myself for getting outside and actually doing something (rather than sitting on my deck saying, "I really need to work on that flowerbed"). Perhaps this weekend I'll get some mulch and complete my project.  It does look much better.

In the busyness of life, I had forgotten how satisfying it is to work in the yard. I am positive that I  accomplished more today at home, nurturing my flowerbed and my soul, than I would have at work. 

Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul.

-Luther Burbank