I’ll Be Kind. I’m Still Learning.

Patriotic Event June 10-12

Hello Everyone,

It seems as if I always open my newsletters with how busy I am getting ready for the next event. While it may be true, I am interested in other projects and one of them this spring has been to learn how to grow flowers. As most of you know, I have confessed many times that I have been a failure at growing flowers. However, since my son took care of my flowers several years ago I learned a very big secret. They like to be watered. He did it religiously. So I am happy to tell you that for several years now I have been able to grow ferns, flowers and right now am nursing a Holly bush back to life. That cold snap almost killed those bushes and they were scheduled to be removed several weeks ago. However, after talking to several customers about the bushes and on the advice of April, my daughter you all know, we decided to wait and prune and fertilize it. While it is not out of the woods yet, Lord willing, it may come out of this yet.

So this is the year I decided I was going to learn more about planting and potting flowers. While I know so many of you have BEAUTIFUL flower gardens, I confess, I am a novice. I never knew how much I could learn from growing plants and flowers and not just about the plants and flowers, but–about life.

My son, husband and I were at a home improvement store the other day and I learned a very valuable life lesson on the way into the store and in the parking lot. The parking lot was very crowded with people who were out in the parking lot trying to get things like shrubs, mulch and flowers into their vehicles. The area we were in was especially crowded with people everywhere walking behind the cars in the lot. There were people to the side of us, in front of us and seemingly almost everywhere.

We noticed an older woman trying to back her car out and she was having trouble seeing all the people because there were so many of us. Two women had to stop in order for her not to hit them. However, she was NOT being careless.

Then some women, walking beside us said to the women who stopped, “What she gonna do, hit you? She doesn’t even see you. What an a__hole.” The women laughed and laughed at this older woman”

The older woman who had been backing the car out, then noticed that she had not seen these woman and made a horrified face of how sorry she was.

All the women outside of the car made remarks about how stupid the woman backing the car out was and repeated the phrase of what an a__hole she was.

Then one of the women walking outside turned to the lady with the not very nice words and said, “Ha, she’s a secretary at our school. What does that tell you about her?”

They all laughed hilariously. But——

I wanted to say, “No, it tells me more about you than it does about her.”

My son, with Down Syndrome, turned to me and said, “Mom, what they say?” I am so glad he stopped me from saying what I wanted to say.

I said, pretty loud, Son, they weren’t being very nice. He knew something wasn’t right.

We’ve been with Special Olympics long enough to see when someone is having a problem, the Special Olympics athletes don’t stand around and make fun of someone who is having problems. They run to help.

What a great life lesson for me. I LOVE the saying, Of all the things in this world to be, BE KIND!

I’m sure I’ll learn so many more of life’s lessons because of my plants, but I know I’ll learn the majority of them from my son and all his friends–Not women in a parking lot.

I hope to see you on June 10-13. And hopefully, I’ll be kind. I’m still learning.

Blessings!

Debbie