My Happy Place

Sitting with a new friend the other day who is going through many challenges, I asked her: "What is your happy place?" 

Where do you go when life overwhelms you?

For her, her happy places, the places where she finds relief from her constant battles with different illnesses are such things as tae kwon doe, the video game of warcraft where she can "smash" things and relieve the stress, knitting which is a great right brain activity and watching a favourite TV show.

We all need those happy places we can go to no matter what our life looks like.

In my journey of recovery, I have several happy places.  Cycling.  Walking.  Knitting. Watching DVDs, gardening ....

My favourite is to watch growing things grow in my garden. To watch them come up again year after year, grow, bud and then burst into full bloom all in good time.

In the very back of my long, narrow backyard is a flower garden which I created in memory of my mom shortly after her passing several years ago.  She loved flowers.  She had a garden for many years with both flowers and tomatoes.  She always started tomatoes from seed in the large picture window in the living room.  At some point, she branched out to other vegetables including squash.  I remember we ate squash one year until it was coming out of our ears.  She got got creative in how she cooked it.

In my yard, Mom's garden is mostly flowers - with the one exception of tomatoes grown by seed in my living room.  Under gro lights. No garden in her memory would be complete without at least one tomato plant started from seed

It makes me feel closer to her.  It's my way of honouring her memory in a tangible way.

Last year, for the first time since the "injury" from workplace abuse, I was able to do more things in the garden such as pulling weeds and  enlarging several areas in other parts of the yard.  I called those areas my "do it by self" gardens as for once I didn't rely on hubby for the heavy work.  I felt strong enough to do it by self.  I grew more flowers from seed and they flourished which brought joy to my heart and soul.

Daily, once it gets warm enough for things to start waking up from their long winter's sleep, I go outside and make a tour of my yard and see what new things are coming up.  What new things are blooming.

Spring is an exciting time for me.

I love the orderliness of nature how one type of flower proceeds another.  First are the late winter, early spring flowers such as snow crocus followed by other types of crocus which in turn are followed by daffodils and tulips.  Then comes the iris.  The parade of flowering plants goes on throughout the spring, summer and even fall.  A cacophony (visually) of colour.

Last fall, I planted more than 100 spring bulbs - my mom always liked the spring flowers coming up yearly in her garden - and am waiting for them to peak through the ground, grow and then bloom.

Just like cycling where each kilometre peddled is a huge victory for me, so is my garden.

Each weed pulled.  Each bit of border enlarged.  Each new plant inputted into the ground.  Each new bloom.  These are all victories on my journey of recovery.  Mixed in the back garden along with the flowers are the tomatoes.  For me, the joy is in growing them.  Eating their fruit is a byproduct.  A good byproduct.

As the spring and summer progresses, I like to sit on my patio in the evening with hubby on the new deck he built two years ago watching birds flitting about.  Drinking in all the colours of the plants in front of me. 

When I look at all the blooming things, I feel peace.  This is why this is my happy place. It is a place filled with peace in an otherwise chaotic world.