Spring Planting

There were magical moments today as Alton and I worked in the back yard together. I marveled at his appreciation of nature when he stoped in his tracks to acknowledge the stand of 50-year-old Doug Fir Trees towering over our yard at least 150-feet and exclaimed, "WOW!" I also welled up with emotion as he knelt beside me over a mound of dirt and poked his little finger in to the ground with a pumpkin seed and patted the dirt like he saw me doing. It was amazing to be passing on the skills of gardening to this little man who was so recently our baby watching these rituals from the sling. He loves to tease me and would overflow with joy at my shock when he would start to plant a seed and then throw it into his mouth and start chewing-he tried at least one seed from all the squash and peas we set today. Next year I may be able to disuade him with tales of pumpkins growing in his tummy but this year I simply had to conceed to invest few seeds to his explorative learning.