Cultivate Your Garden

Salut from Mile Marker 9,425...

...at Merion Botanical Park!

I'm here with mon amie Cécile - and we have nothing planned except to walk the garden.  

(And maybe find a bench long enough to share a snack from 6 feet apart.)

I cancelled our walk last week.  I was exhausted and overwhelmed.  Maybe it was raining too.  Honestly, I don't remember. 

 The whole week was a blur.

This is me.  Biting off more than I can chew.  Always fighting to stay a step ahead.  Sometimes my mind travels so far into the future, I forget what day it actually is!

That's where Mile 9,425 - and Cécile - come in.

Oui!  Cécile is from France.

In 2010, the summer before my accident, we spent time together at her family's home and organic farm.  

You know those posters of sunflower fields? 

They're real!

I still keep this photo of the farm's entryway on my bedroom wall.

It helps me BREATHE.

At Mile 9,425, we aren't in France.  

But it is spring!

We walk the park's circular path.  Step through fields of buttercups.  Wander from tree to tree, studying branches and blossoms and buds yet to bloom.

This is Cécile's favorite.

And this is mine.

Midway around, the sky opens up with a passing shower.  

Cést la vie!

We keep walking.  

On the sidewalk.
Over the field.

Along the creek. 

Gnats buzz. 
Water bubbles. 
Wet grass soaks through the toes of my shoes.

(No worries -- I only feel it on one foot!)

Cécile tells me about classes she's taking online.  Her Spanish book club.  Sewing doll clothes for her grandson to play with.

She lives in the same fast-paced world as the rest of us.  Yet I've always admired her dedication to carve out time for what she enjoys.

Think about it.  

We go places, create things, befriend each other -- not because we have the time.  Because we make the time.

Take a second.
Click the image.
See what we found?

Everything's better in French.  So I'll sign off with this:

Il faut cultiver notre jardin. 

--Voltaire

We must cultivate our garden.

This mile cultivated mine.

Walk on!
Rebecca