Passed Around

Mrs. Snow, who lives down the street from my grandma, once said to me, "Honey, flowers are made to be passed around," right after giving me the most beautiful and huge bouquet of Dahlias.

This week I was having a horrible day, and had just burnt a big batch of honey sesame chicken for our community dinner, when Erin walked in with a beautiful pink rose from her garden. It instantly made my whole night better. And, this little bloom is looking prettier and prettier by the day as it opens up.

Caring for one another doesn't have to be extravagant, expensive or exhausting. It just has be be thoughtful. I think my grandma's generation is far more in tune to this than ours. Being a neighbor isn't just about scheduling dinners or bar-b-ques, it's about sharing the land with one another, passing around the dirt. Her neighbors bring her fresh produce from their gardens, flower bouquets decorate tables from neighbors' clipping gardens, heirloom tomatoes are treasured gifts, and canned vegetables and fruits are not just your own. They are connected to one another. Property lines overlap, and what's given to them by their Creator is given away to their neighbor. It's a beautiful thing.

As I dream about our new home, I get giddy about the idea of laying down roots for our family, and in our garden. My mind wanders to raising chickens that will lay more eggs than we need, bees that will produce honey for our community, growing heirloom tomatoes and canning them for the winter. We've gotten far to used to the stores "caring" for us instead of caring for one another. Hopefully we can change that, one little neighborhood block at a time.