Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Not a nature girl


If you told me five years ago that one day, I would be happily married to a country boy almost seven years younger than me, that I would house chicks in a fish tank on my dining table, that I would be contemplating cycling to work--I would have thought that you were high. I would have told you that have mistaken me for my organic-eating, home-birth advocating, clog-wearing twin from an alternate universe. Back then, I was still caught up in the on-again-off-again love affair with my pack-a-day nicotine habit. I didn't leave the house without lipstick, and I over-dressed for every gathering I attended. The life I had envisioned for myself involved an electric and cosmopolitan city like New York, London, or even LA, lots of strappy heels, cocktails, and academic discussions enlivened by flirting; I was biding my time till I could move.

Fast-forward five years later:

V and I have been planning our little plot in the back for months now. The weather has finally turned a corner, and I am giddy about the sun and the longer days.

It’s an understatement to say that being married and raising a child have changed my outlook on life. With the current economic downturn and the resurgence in “victory gardens,” I am taking stock of how I live, what I consume and the impact my habits have for my family and for future generations. As a parent, I want to give my children the skills and the space to grow into their best selves. And gardening is an important part of that equation. Knowing how to transform a seedling into sustenance is profoundly empowering, and if I want my daughter to become self-reliant and independent, I need to teach her how to tend a garden.

But, first I need to learn how to do it myself.

5 comments:

  1. Hear... hear! I love to watch plants grow from seed and if you can eat them too, more better... But, watching them grow whether for sustenance or decor, magic! Hmm Valdez is indeed more than a little glamorous... (Chris Q.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. to be honest, I kinda miss lipstick urban chain smoking Marie:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That Marie definitely had better clothes. Did you see what the heck I'm wearing in these photos???

    ReplyDelete
  4. (Chris Q.) - I'm thinking, you're cool in any garb... Marie. You've merely broadened your reportoire. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awww shucks, Chris. You're too kind!

    ReplyDelete