by Bretonrae

Created on: February 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

My great, true, personal garden story: My personal account.

Since I was a small child, I had highly valued and loved working outside around my home. My parents believed that the yard, lawn, trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds were, in fact, part of the expression of the personality of our home. We all worked outside at the various chores done on a seasonal basis. Work in the yard and garden brought us closer together as a family. There had been large rose gardens, blooming shrubs and many fine trees there. Father made houses for song wrens with very tiny entry holes. Our gardens had the beautiful songs of the wrens that added to the charm. All I loved about my early family life centered on the beautiful gardens of our home and this was the foundation for my finding the most wonderful of life's companions in my later life.

My only daughter was grown and happily married with small children of her own. She and I had been quite a team as we both struggled in our own way to make sure she was educated and prepared for life. I was a single parent after she was eight years old and our schedules and income did not allow for any enjoyment of a yard or of a garden together. This was one of the family joys we missed. We had had to live in basement apartments to have the needed finances to pay for her private education in Christian School.

Later, I lived in a separate upstairs apartment above my daughter and her young family. I worked two demanding jobs in medical fields mainly to keep from being lonely with the excuse of hoping to save up some money for who knows what. One Saturday, I went downstairs for borrowing sugar or something or other. My daughter had apparently been thinking that week about my single state. She sat me down at her computer and clicked a link to a Christian online dating service. She said, "Sit down and find someone to talk to," pulling out the chair and pointing at it assertively. I thought, "Is this something that a good mother of a Baptist Preacher's wife would do?" Hesitantly, I sat down. The screen read, 'Christian Cafe'. I filled out my registration to the site and an extensive profile that included education, likes, dislikes, and the various accomplishments people at the age of 58 all have. I felt a little stiff and pretty reserved about doing this. I thought my resume seemed huge. I noted, "That happens after you get older." Thanking her for thinking of me, I bowed out of the study and climbed the stairs. I mused about what good this could possibly

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