Okay ... Planting the second box is happening tomorrow mid-morning. (After some doctor appointments -- for kids, not me.) The planting will happen TOMORROW even if I do it on my own! ;-) I'm all talk! One of the gang, "Bob" leaves tomorrow morning to spend the summer with his mom in North Carolina. He goes every summer and always has a good time. Yet, it's hard for him to leave. I can understand it. He came over to give me a hug and say good bye and let me know he's leaving first thing in the morning. (It was around 3:30 at this point so he had lots of time!) He came inside to hang with me. I was catching the replay of the Isner / Mahut match at Wimbledon. He was board with it. My little pal gets board with things that take too long. So, he went out to play and do something other than watch tennis. ;-)
A little later, we hooked up again and he was saying he was sad to be leaving. When I asked why he said, "I'm going to miss the garden." (That made my heart sing!!!) Yet, I need to explain, my little buddy really isn't much into gardening for long because it takes too long. When we did our big Mother's Day plant, he loved it. But, it was an activity and when we were done, all the kids went to the front and played. It was a short blink in the radar screen. But, that's kind of like a lot of kids. Attention spans are short. I have enjoyed short spurts of time with Bob and it's very fun that he's thinking of Big Hugs as something he's going to miss. It makes me realize how important personalization is to this process. And if you break it down more, it makes me think about how home environment really makes an impact. YES, I know this is obvious. But, it makes me wonder how to capture the "Bobs" of the world. Can I figure out how to make gardening or cooking something that ADD kids can keep their brains wrapped around? I think it's doable. Maybe it's as easy as turning on a radio?? But, what I got from my wonderful farewell to my little dude today was that even though he's not "interested" all the time ... he's tuned in and tapped in sometimes. And that sticks. Kind of like the smell of mint when you try and yank the roots from the overrun area that it's taken over. ;-)
Back to my story, I called him out and said that he wasn't going to miss the garden and he was going to have a great time with his mom and cousins. He agreed. He just doesn't want to miss things going on here. Even if he's having fun there. I get it. (So cute.) So, when he asked if he could plant one of the veggies, I was happy to sneak away with him.
He chose a large tomato plant. He started out strong - digging the hole and all ... but, by the end he was itching to go back out and play cowboys. So, I finished up as he cut through the house to get back out front with the neighborhood kids. (Bob did have to come back to the garden to collect his play gun! Cracks me up!) I did find out in our planting time that he likes cheese pizza ... that's what he was having for dinner! Note to self: Pizza sauce with the tomatoes and herbs is on the menu for SURE!!!!)
I'm going to miss my little friend. I gave him my business card (he was impressed!) because he hinted that he wanted to keep in touch since he has a cell phone. Before we all know it, a month will be gone and he'll be back before anything interesting happens!
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