Things Change

Driving home from jury duty provided the opportunity to swing through the neighborhood where I grew up. It was pleasing to see the old homestead so well taken care of by the people who bought the house from my widowed mom when we had to face that she was no longer able to live alone.


Some of the details are just the same as when my parents moved in the summer of 1960. Like the original paint colors.

But other things have changed. Drastically. My mother was only 5'1" and grew up in the jungle island of Puerto Rico. Afraid to fly- she never returned to her homeland after I was born. Instead, she brought the jungle home to Whittier. When she moved out- you couldn't see the house through tangled vines she cut a a 5'2" tunnel through to the front door.

As mom grew frail, the emergency runs to the hospital came too frequently. Not even with live-in help on weekdays and her coming home with us on weekends, was it a safe situation.

It wasn't easy for her to leave the garden she loved for 40 years, but her life depended on her rethinking how she gardened. We made her room garden-like. An arbor festooned with silk flowers became a headboard. A garden bench a TV stand. She became head gardener, directing her crew (me) with what to do with the plants on her patio. It took time- but she is happier and her mind grew keener the last decade.

The new family was right about the changes they wrought at our former family home's landscaping. They saved a few of the big trees for shade. One has a bench swing hanging from it. My mother will be pleased to see it is a garden which beckons visitors.

This photo in my backyard was taken at 7: 10 this evening. I could have sworn last week it was still daylight at this hour. Time passes. Lives change. If we don't adjust, we will never know the happiness which is possible.

Since that visit past my childhood home, I have been looking at my own garden and observing the need for some changes here.

Today I took the saw to the New Zealand Tea Tree. When it was first planted, it was happy in blazing sun. But trees grew tall around it. Their arms shaded it so much, the sun- loving shrub no longer smiled.

The space where it was is prettier now in the way a window is when a dingy drape is taken down and the sky is seen through a clean window.

Things change. Thinking about change can be a bit unnerving. But if I can just be brave and change what no longer works, then what is better suited to the ever changing landscape will have the opportunity to bring more happiness.

To that, I am committed.

God Bless You , Dear Readers. I look forward to hearing about the changes which bring you joy.