Weeding

I don’t know what it is about a breeze through my hair and dirt between my toes that makes me wax philosophical, but here I go again!

This afternoon I was standing at the corner of the “garden” I had reluctantly agreed to start a month ago. I was reluctant because the only place I have a green thumb is on the online game Farmtown, and I think all my crops have wasted away there, too. When a friend recently asked me to water her plants while she was out of town, it took me five days to remember (Sorry Lisa!).

I kicked off my shoes, there at the corner of the garden, and rolled up my sleeves to avoid a farmer’s tan, as ironic as that is. Then, blade by blade, I began pulling grass and weeds from around my tiny, fragile, carrot plants.

I began to think how I needed to start pulling some weeds in my life. I have some bad habits. I like to eat, pretty much whenever food is available. Sometimes I’m actually hungry, but other times I’m looking for comfort or something to do. I also have a short fuse at times, particularly with my family. I just don’t know how many times you have to tell a six-year-old to get dressed! I watch way too much TV- it seems like it’s always on at our house. There are so few shows I actually enjoy anymore- if it doesn’t make me laugh, think, or learn, why am I watching? I am a horrible procrastinator. Even though I have a goal of writing everyday, you may notice a majority of my posts are stamped between 9 PM and midnight. I’m also a terrible housekeeper. There are so many more interesting things to do than laundry or dishes.

Just like the poor carrot plants that can’t grow when the weeds are taking up all their space and nutrients, I can’t grow when I have all these bad habits that I’m hanging on to, that eat up my time and energy and work against my goals. The “fruit” (or vegetable if you’re a carrot) of everything I’m trying to do is going to be pitiful and withered if I don’t do some weeding.

So, after I curl up on the couch in front of the TV with a snack, leaving my dish on the floor and yelling at someone to pick it up, then I’ll start to work on my “weeds.” Well, maybe I’d better start now.