Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Gardening with Chloe

Gardening with Chloe is a wonderful experience. She works hard and we talk about all sorts of things. She is telling me about weeding and how it is a lot like life. How we need to always pull up our weeds and get them out. She breaks suddenly into another personality and stands up. She is tired of the row she is weeding in and asks in a southern drawl. "Ma’am, do you have a job for me to do?"  We talk about which weeds might be more fun for her to pull right now and she barters for the job. I tell her I can’t pay her in money, but I’ll let her eat at my house for as long as she wants. She accepts the deal. Then she sets in again weeding a spot closer to me.


I tell her about an amazing lady who came and helped me in the garden this morning and how she was really good at getting weeds. I tell her how nice it was to have the lady’s company and what a great gardening companion she was. She wants to know more about the lady. She asks me what her name is. I tell her it is Chloe. Her voice becomes bolder and more confident in the conversation and she really wants to meet this wonderful Chloe lady. I look over at her and she is beaming with pride.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

On The Lake















On the Lake

That first summer,
I sat in the boat looking over the water,
out towards the shoreline,
over the space between.
I was numb, almost trance-like.
The moments blended together
as the fish were reeled in.
The pain congealed over the water
in all the colors of the rainbow
between the sky and the shimmering lake.
It was a time away
from all that was ordinary.
A time to let my eyes wander
and feast on natures bounty
lining every shore.
As I gazed into the colors of the rainbow
I saw your spirit floating
kissing the water
gently caressing with your hands
moving gracefully around.
I basked in the peace,
the beauty, the quiet, the connection.
All that was awkward,
unfitting, dark,
melted away
on the lake.

by Hanna McCown 5/5/15
also on SheWrites.