School Daze: The Cold Winds of Change

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Tomato Tastings…

Sorry guys, we are going to take a hiatus today from the tomatoes. I have something I want to write about and, as this is my blog, I am going to be selfish and write about it. That and I didn’t plan very well and ate the tomato I was going to review today before I got a pic. *whoops*

Anyhoo, today was the first day of school and I am a heartbroken mother and gardener. One of my babies has reached school age and off he went today, so fast and happy that he almost didn’t even stop to give me a kiss goodbye. *sigh* They know not what they do to their mother, snipping apron strings like that so lightly.

My oldest child returned to school with a coolness that he believes only a fifth-grader can achieve (I hear this attitude only gets worse as they get older). He even wore a shirt to school that reads “I’d rather be hanging out with my uncle.”

And as my little boys turned away to go learn to be men someday, I thought I felt a cold wind brush by me. Nope, it was not some kind of premonition. It really was just a slightly chilly breeze. Ah, I thought, here it is. It was Autumn letting me know that she is on her way back, and that if I think I am sad now, wait till I see what she has planned for my tomatoes and flowers. First frost is cruel, cruel thing for a gardener.

Just like with my son, I feel like I have not had enough time with my garden. The summer cannot be nearly over. It cannot be time to move on already. There was so much I had planned to do that did not get done. Damn time for stealing those things from me!

So I must resolve to let some of those things go. Maybe next year they will get done. Maybe I will have learned my lesson and planned better, spent more time doing what I love and being with those I love rather than paying bills. I doubt it, I never was very good at learning lessons (which would explain the 3 cars I totaled before I turned 18). But, maybe.

I guess the only thing to do is to remember that they do return. The kids and the flowers. The come back different than when they left, but they come back better than before.

Well, that’s enough sappiness for today. I promise to have a review AND PICTURE of a lovely tomato tomorrow.