#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

The glory of sun. Sun! Sun on the morning brook. Sun on the skin, sun in the eyes. Sun on all the surfaces. April sun. A four year old can go through so many moods in the first hour of the day before school. And some of them are sunny. I had a lovely sunny morning. Sun on the river, sun on my swim, sun on my mood. I am so grateful for sun today. Poetry workshop went well with my poem. And then I went to the kitchen for lunch. And my daughter brought up the plants in the kitchen windows. We have fourteen of them. And many of them are dying. I have been neglecting them. And she encourages me, we can save some of them. Now. So we take all of them down and I say, “Sometimes we are neglecting something because it will help us see something we need to see. She understands. So what it is it? In a moment, I see it. Charlie. This was his room, this section of the kitchen, it’s kind of den with a couch. And I used to stand next to him, on the couch, to reach a couple of the plants. And these are the only plants in the house that I’ve neglected, and I started—unconsciously—neglecting to water them around the time that Charlie died. Grief is mysterious. My daughter and I take all the plants, trim, cut off the browned leaves and stems. Water, fertilize. Re-hang the ones that are salvageable. Recycle the ones that are not. I will replace the six that need to be replaced. I am grateful, I feel a surge of energy to deal with the plants. Grateful for my daughter’s help. Later, I put all the plants and compost in a wagon and take it out the compost. It’s still sunny and warm and feels like spring. Wave wants us to play in the garden. We kick the soccer ball and I see all the work that needs to be done. When we get some nice weekend days. I make Wave’s favorite pizza and he helps. I carmelize the onions for his mother’s favorite pizza and let him do all of the assembly. He is ecstatic to surprise her when it comes out of the oven. Frank is gone for a bit. I didn’t hear him leave.